WALES

Compensation Payments

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how much in compensation payments was paid by his Department in 2005-06; and what the reason for the payment was in each case.

Peter Hain: Nil.

Departmental Equipment

Mark Francois: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many of his Department's  (a) computers and (b) laptops were stolen in each of the last nine years; and what the total value was of stolen computers and laptops in this period.

Peter Hain: None.

Legal Advice

David Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how much has been spent by the Office on external legal advice in each of the past five years.

Peter Hain: The Wales Office has spent the following amounts on external legal advice, all of which has come from the Treasury Solicitor.
	
		
			   Amount (£) 
			 2001-02 5,509.50 
			 2002-03 4,765.00 
			 2003-04 909.00 
			 2004-05 7,103.19 
			 2005-06 2,140.40

Leglislative Programme: Annual Statement

Ian Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will assess the merits of making an annual statement on the implications of the Government's legislative programme for matters that fall within the enhanced legislative competence of the National Assembly for Wales.

Peter Hain: Yes. The Government of Wales Act 2006 will enhance the legislative competence of the National Assembly, giving the new Assembly the power to pass its own laws for the first time from May next year. I intend in future therefore to make an annual statement making clear the implications of the Government's legislative programme for matters that fall within that legislative competence.

Retirement Age

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, pursuant to the answer of 4 December 2006,  Official Report, columns 189-90W from the Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office, the hon. Member for Wolverhampton, South-East (Mr. McFadden) to the hon. Member for Blackpool, South (Mr. Marsden) on the retirement age, what his Department's policy is for the setting of retirement ages for staff below the senior civil service under the Civil Service (Management Functions) Act 1992.

Peter Hain: Staff serving in the Wales Office are either on loan from the Welsh Assembly Government or employed by the Department for Constitutional Affairs. Their individual retirement age is agreed with their home Departments rather than by the Wales Office. The Wales Office sets no standard retirement age and has a number of staff who have opted to work beyond normal retirement age.

CHURCH COMMISSIONERS

Cathedrals

Mark Pritchard: To ask the hon. Member for Middlesbrough (Sir Stuart Bell), representing the Church Commissioners, if he will make representations to the Secretary of State for Education and Skills to ensure that the history and heritage of England's cathedrals is taught in schools.

Stuart Bell: Contact between schools and English cathedrals is extensive. Each year, cathedrals host a large number of school visits, which support a wide range of curricular activities. Such visits usually combine a focus on the history of the cathedral and the region with the development of the children's awareness of the building's key purpose—Christian worship and the celebration of the Christian faith.
	I am happy to remind the Secretary of State of this positive existing practice and to request his support in encouraging schools to take full advantage of the opportunities offered.

ENVIRONMENT FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

British Waterways

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment he has made of the likely effect of recent reductions in British Waterways's budget on  (a) canal maintenance and  (b) the number of people employed by British Waterways.

Barry Gardiner: This is an operational matter for British Waterways. Major engineering works to the value of £5.6 million have been deferred this year. It is for the Board of British Waterways to decide on its future projects and maintenance programme, together with the staffing levels required to support its operations.

Coastal Access

Mark Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what funding his Department provides  (a) to the highway authorities to maintain rights of way and  (b) for maintenance of coastal access under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000; and if he will make a statement.

Barry Gardiner: Funding for local highway authorities to maintain public rights of way is through the Environment Protection and Cultural Services block of the Revenue Support Grant. The EPCS block provides for a wide range of services. Provision for rights of way is not separately identified within the total.
	The right of access under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 was implemented throughout England in October 2005 for land mapped as open country and registered common land; some of this is located near the coast. The Department does not fund highway authorities in respect of their powers, for example, to make byelaws or to appoint wardens under the Act.
	We are already looking at a number of ways to improve access to the English coast. I have asked Natural England to come forward with advice and recommendations on coastal access by the end of February 2007. This advice will help to inform a planned public consultation exercise.

GM Crops

John Penrose: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the evidential basis was for determining that the Government's target for GM cross-pollination should be 0.3 per cent.; and whether alternative targets were considered.

Ian Pearson: The general aim for coexistence is to minimise unwanted genetically modified (GM) presence in non-GM crops as far as possible, while recognising that it is impractical to rule out all GM transfer. This is recognised by the agreed EU threshold for labelling GM presence of 0.9 per cent. In the context of this threshold, coexistence measures have to allow for all the potential sources of GM presence, including crop-to-crop cross-pollination.
	These considerations underpin our proposed crop separation distances that aim to limit cross-pollination to a maximum of 0.3 per cent. In practice, any cross-pollination would generally be less than 0.3 per cent. as crops would normally be more than the specified distance apart.

Marine Climate Change

Alistair Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps he is taking to improve scientific understanding of the effect of marine climate change; what research he has commissioned in this area; and if he will make a statement.

Ian Pearson: To improve scientific understanding, we have led the development of the Marine Climate Change Impact Partnership (MCCIP) to provide a UK-wide co-ordinating framework for the transfer of high-quality marine climate change impact evidence to policy advisors and decision-makers. The MCCIP will act as a focal point to investigate, inform, advise and encourage action, in order to adapt to the challenges and opportunities presented by the impacts of climate change in the marine environment.
	The first MCCIP Annual Report Card (ARC) was launched in November. The ARC highlights the range of potential impacts in our seas. Many of these, and the connections between them, are poorly understood. We will use the ARC to help focus future research efforts of all MCCIP partners. Copies are available on the MCCIP website at http://www.mccip.org.uk and have been placed in the Libraries of the House.
	DEFRA is also funding a project to look at the 'connections' that occur within a marine ecosystem. This project will make predictions of the effect of climate variability on the complex ecosystem connections and the consequences for the health of the sea.
	Additionally, DEFRA funds the Marine Environmental Change Network (MECN) which co-ordinates and supports those collecting long-term time series information for marine waters. Long-term data series are important in understanding how much of the change we have seen in the marine environment is due to climate variability, other human pressures or natural fluctuations. One of these time series is the Continuous Plankton Recorder, run by the Sir Alister Hardy Foundation for Ocean Science (www.sahfos.org), which has collected plankton in the Atlantic, North Sea and Eastern Pacific since 1931.
	DEFRA and the Department for Trade and Industry are funding research on the impact of increasing carbon dioxide on the marine environment and the consequent ocean acidification. At present, we have little evidence of changes that have occurred, or are occurring, in UK waters. Therefore, we intend to develop a pilot marine monitoring programme for measuring carbon dioxide in our shelf seas as well as taking further ecosystem-based measurements in conjunction with the Natural Environment Research Council under their Oceans 2025 initiative.

Pesticides

Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment he has made of health risks associated with pesticides in drawing up the National Pesticides Strategy.

Ian Pearson: The UK Pesticides Strategy published in March 2006 was directed at the sustainable use of plant protection products and their impact on the environment. We did not at that stage include human health issues within the strategy since we were considering the report by the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution (RCEP) on 'Crop Spraying and the Health of Residents and Bystanders'.
	We indicated, however, that we would consider extending the strategy to cover human health issues and we will be consulting on a revised draft strategy embracing both human health and environmental protection early in the new year.

Rural Payments Agency

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what representations his Department has received on farmers  (a) becoming bankrupt and  (b) being threatened with legal action by creditors related to delayed awards of rural payments.

Barry Gardiner: The Rural Payments Agency has received representations from a number of 2005 Single Payment Scheme claimants about delays in making payments. Where cases of financial difficulty have been raised, the Agency has taken additional action where possible to expedite payment.

Timber

Peter Atkinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if he will meet representatives from the wood panel industry to discuss forecasts of softwood availability.

Barry Gardiner: holding answer 11 December 2006
	The forecasts of softwood availability are prepared and published by the Forestry Commission with assistance from the Forest Service, Northern Ireland. I have no plans to meet representatives of the wood panel industry. Any questions about the forecast should be addressed to the Forestry Commission.

TRANSPORT

British Transport Police

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport 
	(1)  how many British Transport Police officers have been  (a) physically and  (b) verbally assaulted in each of the last 10 years;
	(2)  what the average response time was for British Transport Police officers to attend railway stations without a permanent police presence in each of the last 10 years;
	(3)  how many  (a) guns and  (b) knives have been confiscated by British Transport Police in each of the last 10 years;
	(4)  how many British Transport Police officers there were in each of the last 15 years.

Tom Harris: This information is not held by the Department for Transport but by the British Transport Police, who can be contacted at:
	British Transport Police
	25 Camden Road
	London
	NW1 9LN
	E-mail:general.enquiries@btp.pnn.police.uk.

Community Railways Initiative

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many community rail line designations have been made.

Tom Harris: 12 lines have been designated. Additionally, three community rail services have also been designated.

Departmental Staff

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many staff were employed through employment agencies in  (a) his Department and  (b) each of its agencies in each of the last five years for which information is available; and what the (i) average and (ii) longest time was for which these temporary workers were employed in each year.

Gillian Merron: The following tables provide details of responses to the request for information.
	
		
			  2001-02 
			  Agency  Number of temp agency staff  Average time  Longest time 
			 DfT(C) No information available 
			 DVLA No information available 
			 GCDA 4 3 months 6 months 
			 MCA No information available 
			 VOSA No information available(1) 
			 VGA (2)— (2)— (2)— 
			 DSA (3)— (3)— (3)— 
			 HA No information available 
		
	
	
		
			  2002-03 
			  Agency  Number of temp agency staff  Average time  Longest time 
			 Dft(C) No information available 
			 DVLA No information available 
			 GDCA 2 4 months 6 months 
			 MCA No information available 
			 VOSA No information available(1) 
			 VCA (2)— (2)— (2)— 
			 DSA (3)— (3)— (3)— 
			 HA 257 No information available 
		
	
	
		
			  2003-04 
			  Agency  Number of temp agency staff  Average time  Longest time 
			 DfT(C) No information available 
			 DVLA No information available 
			 GCDA 1 6 months 6 months 
			 MCA No information available 
			 VOSA No information available(1) 
			 VCA (2)— (2)— (2)— 
			 DSA (3)— (3)— (3)— 
			 HA 224 No information available 
		
	
	
		
			  2004-05 
			  Agency  Number of temp agency staff  Average time  Longest time 
			 DfT(C) No information available 
			 DVLA 18 1,127 days 937 days 
			 GCDA 8 6.5 months 12 months 
			 MCA No information available 
			 VOSA No information available(1) 
			 VCA (2)— (2)— (2)— 
			 DSA (3)— (3)— (3)— 
			 HA 178 No information available 
		
	
	
		
			  2005-06 
			  Agency  Number of temp agency staff  Average time  Longest time 
			 DfT(C) 86 12.5 weeks 81 weeks 
			 DVLA 18 1,175 days 897 days 
			 GCDA 12 8 months 12 months 
			 MCA No information available 
			 VOSA No information available(1) 
			 VCA (2)— (2)— (2)— 
			 DSA (3)— (3)— (3)— 
			 HA 164 No information available 
			 (1) Annual report provides a combined figure for agency/consultancy support  (2 )4 agency staff within last five years with the average time being three months and the longest time 12 months.  (3) Only information available: 98 staff as at 31 October 2006 (longest time 351 days and average time 123 days) 56 staff as at 31 December2006 (longest time 369 days and average time 244 days

East Coast Railway Line

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how his Department estimates for planning purposes the number of passengers using the East Coast main line GNER services.

Tom Harris: The Franchise Agreement allows us to request passenger counts from the franchise operator.

East Coast Railway Line

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many seats there are in a GNER Mallard standard class carriage.

Tom Harris: The seating capacity in a GNER Mallard standard coach is as follows:
	Coaches B, C, D, E, have 76 seats
	Coach G has 70 seats (including four tip-up seats)
	Coach H has 30 seats (this coach includes the buffet and kitchen)

East London Line

Jim Dowd: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the effect on the Network Rail services into London Bridge of the extension of the East London Line in 2010.

Tom Harris: The Department has worked closely with the East London Line (ELL) project team and with Network Rail to ensure that it will be possible to deliver satisfactory levels of service from south London to both London Bridge and ELL destinations when ELL commences operations.
	The direct journey opportunities offered by the extended ELL services are expected to enable significant numbers of passengers to avoid the need to travel from south to east London via London Bridge, thus easing congestion at that busy station.

Fareham-Gosport-Portsmouth Light Rapid Transit Scheme

Peter Viggers: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what tests were applied in judging the viability of the Fareham-Gosport-Portsmouth Light Rapid Transit scheme; and by what measures the scheme fell short of each such test.

Tom Harris: This scheme was appraised in accordance with our published guidance on appraising public transport schemes. Value for money is one of a range of factors Ministers consider when taking decisions. Funding approval was subsequently revoked in July 2004 because costs had escalated considerably.

Foreign Lorry Drivers

Brian Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many foreign lorry drivers have been involved in an accident on British roads in the last12 months; how many were taken to court; and how many failed to turn up for the trial.

Stephen Ladyman: The information requested is not available.

Kent Rail Services

David Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what recent representations he has received on fare increases on the Kent Integrated Franchise for 2007.

Tom Harris: A number of letters have been received from members of the public about fares changes on Southeastern.

Kent Rail Services

Clive Efford: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the effect of the condition of the track on the performance of the North Kent rail services on 7 December; and if he will make a statement.

Tom Harris: This is an operational matter for Network Rail, as the owner and operator of the national rail network. The hon. Member should contact Network Rail's chief executive at the following address for a response to his question.
	John Armitt
	Chief Executive
	Network Rail
	40 Melton Street
	London NW1 2EE

Low Carbon Vehicles

Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what  (a) local and  (b) national targets have been set by his Department for the uptake of low carbon vehicles in the public and private sectors since 1997; and what progress against each target has been made.

Gillian Merron: holding answer 12 December 2006
	DfT has not set local targets for uptake of low carbon vehicles.
	The Powering Future Vehicles Strategy set national targets of 10 per cent. of all new car sales to be cars emitting 100g/km of CO2 or less at the tailpipe by 2012 and 600 or more buses coming into operation per year to be low carbon, defined as 30 per cent. below current average carbon emissions, by 2012. These targets are currently under review.
	The European voluntary agreements on new car fuel efficiency require European, Japanese and Korean car manufacturers to reduce average new car CO2 emissions by some 25 per cent. from 1995 levels by 2008-09. In 2004 (the latest year for which EU-level data is available), average CO2 emissions from new cars sold in the EU were down by more than 12 per cent.

Official Cars

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many  (a) Government pool cars and  (b) cars run by his Department were manufactured(i) in the UK and (ii) abroad.

Stephen Ladyman: Information on cars operated by the Government Car and Despatch Agency, an agency of the Department for Transport, is available on page 14 of its annual report and accounts 2005-06, copies of which are available in the Library for the reference of Members.
	Aside from the GCDA fleet, the Department and its other agencies have 843 cars. Of these, 134 were manufactured in the UK and 709 were manufactured abroad.

Official Cars

Oliver Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport 
	(1)  what sanctions are available against  (a) special advisers,  (b) ministers and  (c) other civil servants if special advisers make use of official cars or taxis in circumstances which are not permitted;
	(2)  in what circumstances special advisers may use an official car or taxi;
	(3)  on how many occasions since 1997 his Department has taken action against  (a) special advisers,  (b) Ministers and  (c) other civil servants for permitting special advisers to use official cars or taxis in circumstances that are not within his Department's guidelines; and if he will make a statement.

Stephen Ladyman: Guidance on the use and provision of Government cars is set out in the Ministerial Code and 'Travel by Ministers'. Guidance on the use and provision of official cars and taxis by civil servants, including special advisers, is set out in the civil service management code and departmental staff handbooks. It is for individual Ministers and their Departments to account for the use of official cars and taxis.

Oyster Card

John Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to his answer of 6 December 2006,  Official Report, column 412W, on fares technology, whether he expects smart card schemes outside London to be compatible with the Transport for London Oyster card.

Stephen Ladyman: The current Oyster card is not currently compatible with interoperable smartcard schemes using the ITSO standard being introduced elsewhere.
	Research undertaken by the Department for Transport has demonstrated that it is possible for the Oyster card to be modified so that it can be used for ITSO standard ticketing. Decisions on the future of the Oyster card are for the Mayor of London.
	As announced jointly with the Mayor of London on 10 May 2006, Transport for London has agreed to work with the Department to ensure that all Oyster equipment in London is capable of accepting ITSO smartcards.

Rail Overcrowding

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the five most overcrowded train services were outside London in the last 12 months.

Tom Harris: Passengers in Excess of Capacity (PIXC) only applies to weekday commuter trains arriving in London between 07:00 and 09:59 and those departing between 16:00 and 18:59.
	The PIXC measure does not apply to other cities in the UK and so the information requested can be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Railway Security

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport 
	(1)  how many passengers have been removed from trains for threatening staff or other passengers in each of the last ten years;
	(2)  how many passengers have been removed from trains for being drunk in each of the last ten years.

Tom Harris: This information is not held by the Department for Transport but by the British Transport Police, who can be contacted at:
	British Transport Police
	25 Camden Road
	London NW1 9LN
	E-mail: general.enquiries@btp.pnn.police.uk.

Railway Track

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many miles of railway track have been replaced in each of the last ten years.

Tom Harris: This is an operational matter for Network Rail, as the owner and operator of the national rail network. The hon. Member should contact Network Rail's Chief Executive at the following address for a response to his question.
	John Armitt
	Chief Executive
	Network Rail
	40 Melton Street
	London NW1 2EE

Railways Franchises

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what  (a) franchise premiums are due to his Department and  (b) subsidies are payable to each rail franchise for each of the next 10 years or the remainder of the franchise.

Tom Harris: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 6 November 2006,  Official Report, columns 683-84W.

Road Accidents

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many road accidents involving one or more hit-and-run  (a) drivers and  (b) riders there were in each police force area in each year from 1997 to 2004; and how many (i) fatalities, (ii) serious injuries and (iii) other injuries resulted from those accidents.

Stephen Ladyman: Tables showing personal injury road accidents reported to the police involving one or more hit-and-run  (a) drivers and  (b) riders in each police force area in each year from 1997 to 2004; and the resulting (i) fatalities, (ii) serious injuries and (iii) slight injuries, have been placed in the Libraries of the House.

Road Accidents

David Kidney: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what discussions he has had with ministerial colleagues in the Home Office on the provision of face-to-face support for road crash victims.

Stephen Ladyman: I have had a number of discussions recently with ministerial colleagues in the Home Office on matters of road safety and the role of the police in enforcing traffic law in support of road safety. We have not specifically discussed the support for road accident victims and their families.

South West Trains

John Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the estimated premium payment to the Exchequer is by South West Trains over the life of its franchise.

Tom Harris: Stagecoach is contracted to pay a net premium of £1.577 billion over the life of the South West franchise in 2006-07 prices to the Department for Transport. This equates to a net present value of £1.191 billion. The annual profile of these figures is available on the DfT website.

Waterloo to Reading Railway Line

John Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what his plans are for future capacity on the Waterloo to Reading railway line.

Tom Harris: Stagecoach, the successful bidder for the South Western franchise, has committed to increasing capacity in the new franchise. Details of the allocation of the capacity increases are still to be finalised, but Stagecoach will announce its proposals in due course. However, it is recognised that the Windsor lines are crowded at peak times and that will need to be addressed.

CONSTITUTIONAL AFFAIRS

Boundary Commission

Jim Dowd: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs who the members are of the Boundary Commission for England; what qualifications are required for appointment to the Commission; and what criteria are used to appoint members.

Bridget Prentice: The Chairman of the Boundary Commission is the Speaker of the House of Commons, the Deputy Chairman is the Honourable Mr. Justice Sullivan, and the two other Boundary Commissioners are Michael Lewer, CBE, QC, and Robin Gray.
	The position of Chairman of the Boundary Commission is ex officio for the Speaker of the House of Commons. The Deputy Chairman must be a High Court judge. There are no specific qualifications required for the other Boundary Commissioner positions.
	There are no statutory criteria for appointments to the Boundary Commission for England. Prospective appointees will generally be expected to provide evidence of an ability to: understand and apply legislation; give objective consideration to sometimes lengthy representations, many of which will express conflicting views; and deliver recommendations supported by sound reasoning.

Departmental Entertaining

Oliver Heald: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs pursuant to the answer of27 November 2006,  Official Report, column 343W, on the Lord Chancellor (functions), how many functions the Lord Chancellor has held at his official residence in Admiralty House since taking up residence; and at how many of those functions staff from her Department assisted.

Harriet Harman: Since taking up residence on11 October 2006, there have been seven functions. Staff from the Department assisted at four of them.

Family Courts

Tim Loughton: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs whether it is her Department's policy not to consider any proposals for reform of family courts which contravene the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Harriet Harman: The Government are committed to implementing the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child in all of its policies. The UN Convention and the principles it enshrines have been and continue to be taken into account when formulating policy.

Gershon Review

Vincent Cable: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what efficiency savings have been made in her Department and agencies as a result of the Gershon review; and if she will make a statement.

Vera Baird: The latest figures are contained within my Department's autumn performance report and consist of £204.9 million of financial savings, 581 full-time equivalent staff reductions and 85 relocated posts.

Gershon Review

Vincent Cable: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs how much has been spent by her Department and its associated public bodies in order to achieve Gershon efficiency savings; whether these costs have been taken account of in reporting of headline efficiency savings; and if she will make a statement.

Vera Baird: We do not hold this information centrally and it could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. Sir Peter Gershon's independent report into public sector efficiency did not require that efficiencies be recorded net of up-front investment costs and the Department for Constitutional Affairs has followed this advice.

Litigants in Person

John Hemming: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs, pursuant to her answer of 29 November 2006,  Official Report, column 764W, on litigants in person, what reasons the Civil Procedure Rule Committee gave for keeping the rate at which litigants in person can claim costs at its 1995 level.

Vera Baird: There is no record in the minutes of the Committee of the reason for their decision.

Magistrates

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what her plans are to increase diversity of membership among the magistracy in Lancashire.

Harriet Harman: Magistrates are recruited and selected by local Advisory Committees who follow the Secretary of State and Lord Chancellor's directions when making recommendations for appointment to the magistracy. This provides guidance that each local justice area should broadly reflect the community it serves. The Lancashire Advisory Committee will be meeting early in 2007 to consider what is required to improve the diversity of the magistracy in Lancashire. This will include reaching out to different parts of the community by, for example, arranging presentations for local community groups and articles in the local press.

Ministerial Residence

Oliver Heald: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs which Government Department is paying the council tax bill on the Lord Chancellor's ministerial residence in Admiralty House.

Harriet Harman: The Secretary of State and Lord Chancellor pays the council tax from his personal income.

Small Claims Court

Madeleine Moon: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs whether her Department expects to publish details of her consultation on the small claims court process by the end of December 2006; and what the consultation period will be.

Bridget Prentice: The consultation paper will be published by the end of January 2007. The intention had been to publish by the end of this year but publication of the paper has been delayed to allow the Government to give proper consideration to recommendation 54 of the Gowers Review of Intellectual Property, which was published on 6 December. The consultation period will be 12 weeks.

Special Advisers

Mark Hoban: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many of her Department's civil servants work full-time to support all departmental special advisers; and what the salary is of each such civil servant.

Harriet Harman: Support to special advisers is provided in accordance with the requirements of the Code of Conduct for Special Advisers.

TRADE AND INDUSTRY

Departmental Staff

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many staff were employed on a consultancy basis in  (a) his Department and  (b) each of its agencies in each of the last five years for which information is available; and what the (i) average and (ii) longest period was for which a consultant was employed in each year.

Jim Fitzpatrick: The Department has engaged the following number of individuals to provide consultancy services as defined by the Office of Government Commerce:
	
		
			  Financial Year  Number 
			 2003-04 (from September 03) 7 
			 2004-05 60 
			 2005-06 72 
			 2006-07 (to date) 35 
		
	
	The Department does not have information on the number of individuals working on contracts entered with consultancy firms.
	Further information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
	I have asked the Chief Executives of the Executive Agencies to respond directly to the hon. Member.
	 Letter from Tim Moss, dated 13 December 2007:
	The Secretary of State for Trade and Industry has asked me to reply on behalf of Companies House to your question regarding how many staff were employed on a consultancy basis in  (a) his Department and  (b) each of its agencies in each of the last five years for which information is available; and what the (i) average and (ii) longest period was for which a consultant was employed in each year.
	The following table provides detail from the financial data available on consultants employed by Companies House over the last 5 years.
	
		
			Average time (days) 
			  Financial year  Number  Estimate  Longest period 
			 2006-07 9 sets of consultancy 170 40 days 
			 2005-06 23 sets of consultancy 253 60 days 
			 2004-05 22 sets of consultancy 241 40 days 
			 2003-04 15 sets of consultancy 125 35 days 
			 2002-03 7 sets of consultancy 2,594 150 days 
		
	
	 Letter from Iain MacGregor, dated 13 December 2007:
	The Secretary of State for Trade and Industry has asked me to reply on behalf of the National Weights and Measures Laboratory (NWML) to your question regarding how many staff were employed on a consultancy basis in  (a) his Department and  (b) each of its agencies in each of the last five years for which information is available; and what the (i) average and (ii) longest time was for which a consultant was employed in each year.
	NWML employed staff on consultancy basis in each of the last five years as follows:
	
		
			   Number  Longest days  Average days 
			 2002 Not available — — 
			 2003 Not available — — 
			 2004 2 consultants 1.5 1.25 
			 2005 3 consultants 2 1.5 
			 2006 2 consultants 9.5 6 
		
	
	 Letter from Ron Marchant, dated 13 December 2007:
	To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, what the Department's annual budget is for employing workers on a consultancy basis; and how much of this budget has been used in each of the last five years for which records are available.
	The Patent Office does not employ staff on a consultancy basis. Some professional service companies have been engaged for short term projects but any individuals are not under our direct control.
	 Letter from Desmond Flynn, dated 13 December 2007:
	The Secretary of State for Trade and Industry has asked me to reply to you directly on behalf of The Insolvency Service in respect of your question (2006/136), asking how many staff were employed on a consultancy basis in his Department and each of its agencies in each of the last five years for which information is available; and what the average and longest period was for which a consultant was employed in each year.
	Individuals and companies are engaged as consultants on ad hoc basis to undertake specific pieces of work. The number and duration of their engagements varies from activity to activity. The information you request is not collected and could only be collected at disproportionate cost.

Energy Prices

Mark Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what estimate he has made of the total amount spent by  (a) small and  (b) medium-sized businesses on gas and electricity in each of the last three years.

Malcolm Wicks: Data on the amount spent by industry is not collected by sizeband, so we are unable to provide a breakdown for small or medium sized businesses.
	The total spend by business on gas and electricity over the past three years has been as follows:
	
		
			  £ million 
			   Gas  Electricity 
			 2003 2,435 6,345 
			 2004 2,770 7,120 
			 2005 3,680 9,845 
		
	
	In 2005, the UK price to industry for electricity was around the EU average price, and for gas the UK price to industry was 9 per cent. below the EU average price.

Fuel Poverty

Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many people lived in fuel poverty in Beverley and Holderness in each year since 1997; and if he will make a statement.

Malcolm Wicks: Fuel poverty statistics are only available at Government Office region level. Latest available figures are sourced from the 2004 English House Condition Survey and show that in 2004, 163,000 households in Yorkshire and The Humber (7.7 per cent. of all households in Yorkshire and The Humber) were in fuel poverty. This statistic cannot be broken down farther. Figures for fuel poverty in Yorkshire in 2001, 2003 and 2004 are given as follows. Figures for other years are not available.
	
		
			   Number of households poverty in fuel 
			 2001 232,000 
			 2003 180,000 
			 2004 163,000

Gershon Review

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much has been spent by his Department and its associated public bodies in order to achieve Gershon efficiency savings; whether these costs have been included in reporting headline efficiency savings; and if he will make a statement.

Jim Fitzpatrick: Sir Peter Gershon's independent report into public sector efficiency did not require that efficiencies be recorded net of upfront investment costs and the Department has followed this advice.

Low Carbon Buildings Programme

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what estimate he has made of the budget required to meet household demand for grants in full under the Low Carbon Buildings Programme in  (a) 2006-07,  (b) 2007-8 and  (c) 2008-09.

Malcolm Wicks: Since the Low Carbon Buildings Programme was launched in April 2006, demand from the household stream has been higher than anticipated. With a limited pot of £28.5 million available under Phase 1, we announced on 25 October 2006 that a further £6.2 million would be allocated to the household stream. Together with this, we have introduced measures to manage the demand going forward, which should make it possible for us to fund the household stream through to June 2008. By this time, some of our wider measures to promote microgeneration should be taking hold, and we believe the sector may have matured to a point where householder grants are no longer necessary.

Micro-renewable Energy

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry why household grants for all micro-renewable energy systems will be ended in 2008.

Malcolm Wicks: We announced on 25 October 2006 that we would be re-allocating £6.2 million of the total £28.5 million funding to the household stream, giving a total pot of £12.7 million. On projected demand levels this should allow householder funding to continue until June 2008. By this time, some of our wider measures to promote microgeneration should be taking hold, and we believe the sector may have matured to a point where householder grants are no longer necessary.

Micro-renewable Energy

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what measures in the Government's micro-generation strategy will provide, from summer 2008, capital support to a householder wishing to install micro-generation equipment equivalent to the current grant levels available under the Low Carbon Buildings Programme.

Malcolm Wicks: The aim of the microgeneration strategy is to create conditions where microgeneration becomes a realistic alternative generation source of heat and/or electricity. This will be achieved when costs are reduced and awareness of these technologies is widespread. The low carbon buildings programme is currently helping to reduce the upfront costs of microgeneration installations, and, to complement this, the measures in the strategy are aimed at stimulating widespread demand to help achieve the economies of scale that will lead to costs falling and negate the need for capital grants. Key measures that will help to achieve this include:
	Making it easier for microgenerators to access renewable obligation certificates
	Working with energy suppliers to ensure that microgenerators receive a fair reward for exported electricity
	A robust accreditation scheme (to build trust in the industry)
	Local authorities requiring new developments to source a percentage of energy requirements from onsite renewable sources (whilst not in the strategy itself, the Housing Minister made a statement that she expected all local authorities to develop such requirements following work undertaken in relation to the strategy)
	The removal of unnecessary controls in the consents regime (which regulates a wide range of developments by householders).
	More detail can be found in the microgeneration strategy itself at:
	http://www.dti.gov.uk/energy/souurces/sustainable/microgeneration/strategy/page27594.html

River Severn

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment his Department has made of the feasibility of power generation projects in the River Severn.

Malcolm Wicks: Between 1978 and 1994 the Government supported a number of studies under their Tidal Energy Research and Development Programme. Those studies included a detailed assessment of a Severn barrage tidal power generation scheme(1).
	During the course of the recent Energy Review we received a range of views on tidal generation, including representations by the Severn Tidal Power Group(2) on their plans for a Severn Barrage, which could provide around 5 per cent. of current UK electricity demand by 2020 and cost in the region of £14 billion. We also received representations from a number of the Environmental Non-Government Organisations, which raised strong concerns regarding such a scheme, in view of the environmental designations that apply to the Severn Estuary.
	We are interested in improving our understanding of how to make best use of the potential tidal resource in UK waters. Therefore, together with the Welsh Assembly Government, we are working with the Sustainable Development Commission, the South West Regional Development Agency and other key interested parties to explore the issues arising from the tidal resource in the UK, including the Severn Estuary, including potential costs and benefits of development using a range of tidal technologies and their public acceptability.
	The final report of the study is expected to be published in June 2007 and further information can be found at
	www.sd-commission.org.uk/pages/tidal.html
	(1) Energy Paper 57 HMSO 1989 (ISBN 0 11 412952 5)
	(2 )The Severn Tidal Power Group is a joint venture of four large power engineering and construction companies: Alstom, Balfour Beatty, Sir Robert McAlpine and Taylor Woodrow.

ELECTORAL COMMISSION COMMITTEE

Elections: Reviews

Anthony Steen: To ask the hon. Member for Gosport, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, whether the Electoral Commission has made a decision that the implementation of electoral reviews of districts will take precedence over parish review cases.

Peter Viggers: holding answer 12 December 2006
	The Electoral Commission informs me that it has not made such a decision, and seeks to progress both parish review cases and electoral reviews of districts as quickly as possible.

Electoral Commission: Powers

Oliver Heald: To ask the hon. Member for Gosport, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, what powers the Electoral Commission has  (a) to inspect local authorities' electoral registration departments and  (b) to set targets for those departments.

Peter Viggers: The Electoral Commission has statutory powers to observe the working practices of electoral registration officers, and to seek information from them on expenditure in connection with the performance of their functions. The Commission also has powers to determine and publish performance standards for electoral registration officers in Great Britain, and to prepare and publish assessments of their performance against such standards.

SCOTLAND

Departmental Staff

Roger Williams: To ask the Secretary of Statefor Scotland how many  (a) marketing officers, (b) communications officers and  (c) press officers are employed in his Department; and what the total expenditure on communications for his Department was on (i) Government Information and Communication Service staff and (ii) other (A) press officers, (B) special advisers and (C) staff in the last year for which figures are available.

David Cairns: The Scotland Office currently has one press officer and there is one vacant post.
	The Office does not record expenditure in the form requested; however, the Office spent £29,261 on communications during 2005-06, excluding overhead costs, such as accommodation, utilities and corporate services, which are paid centrally.

Departmental Staff

Michael Fallon: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what the effective date is of the annual pay award for staff in his Office; and what the actual implementation date was in each of the last five years.

David Cairns: All the staff in the Scotland Office are on secondment from the Scottish Executive or the Department for Constitutional Affairs (DCA) and the Office reimburses these Departments for the sums involved. The Office is not involved in pay negotiations or the implementation of any pay agreement; this is a matter for the parent Departments.
	Both Departments' annual pay awards are effective from 1 August.
	Staff on secondment from the Executive have had their pay awards implemented on 1 August in each of the last five years, with the exemption of the August 2005 award, which was delayed due to protractedpay negotiations, and processed and backdated inMay 2006.
	At the beginning of 2004, some Scotland Office staff formally transferred to the DCA from the Scottish Executive following the completion of a preference exercise as a consequence of the earlier merging of the Scotland Office into the DCA. These staff became eligible for the DCA's 2004 pay award which was processed and backdated at the end of November 2004; their 2005 pay award was processed and backdated at the end of March 2006, and their pay award for August 2006 is still under negotiation.

Furniture

Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how much was spent by his Department on furniture made by British firms in each year since 2000.

David Cairns: The Scotland Office has generally, but not exclusively, obtained office furniture through central procurement contracts set up by the Scottish Executive. The Office does not separately identify expenditure on furniture, or the source of supply; however, the following table details the amount spent on 'furniture and fittings' in each year since 2000, from all sources.
	
		
			  Furniture and fittings 
			   Amount (£) 
			 2000-01 0 
			 2001-02 1,673 
			 2002-03 27,182 
			 2003-04 4,454 
			 2004-05 25,096 
			 2005-06 16,995 
			 2006-07 0

Gender Equality

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland when he expects to publish his Department's gender equality scheme.

David Cairns: The Scotland Office is part of the Department for Constitutional Affairs, who expect to publish their gender equality scheme by 30 April 2007.

Gender Equality

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what steps he is taking to ensure that private organisations contracted to work in his Department are aware of their duties under gender equality legislation when they are exercising public functions on behalf of public bodies.

David Cairns: No private organisations undertake public functions on behalf of the Scotland Office.

Gender Equality

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what steps he is taking to ensure that his Department is taking steps to meet the requirements of the forthcoming duty on public bodies  (a) to end unlawful discrimination and harassment and  (b) to promote equality between women and men.

David Cairns: The Scotland Office is part of the Department for Constitutional Affairs (DCA) who will be ensuring better performance on the general gender equality duty which will require public authorities to have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination and harassment and promote equality of opportunity between women and men. The Scotland Office will be working with the DCA on the implications of the Department's gender equality scheme.

Renewable Energy

Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how much energy consumed by his Department is acquired from renewable sources.

David Cairns: The Scotland Office subscribes to the sustainable development policies adopted by the Department for Constitutional Affairs.
	I refer the hon. Member to the reply given bythe Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs, my hon. Friend the Member for Lewisham, East (Bridget Prentice) on 7 December 2006,  Official Report, column 657W.

LEADER OF THE HOUSE

Compensation Payments

John Hayes: To ask the Leader of the House how much in compensation payments was paid by the Privy Council Office in 2005-06; and what the reason was for each payment.

Jack Straw: None.

Furniture

Madeleine Moon: To ask the Leader of the House how much was spent by the Privy Council Office on furniture made by British firms in each year since 2000.

Jack Straw: Detailed information on the country of manufacture of furniture purchased is not held by the Privy Council Office.

Queen's Speech

John Hayes: To ask the Leader of the House which items in the Queen's Speech programme are  (a) in part and  (b) wholly consequent on proposals made at European Union level.

Jack Straw: The written ministerial statement giving further details of the legislative programme outlinedin the Queen's Speech, 16 November 2006,  Official Report, column 7WS, listed 27 possible Bills. Of these, 19 have been introduced (some with an amended name), namely:
	Concessionary Bus Travel
	Consumers, Estate Agents and Redress
	Further Education and Training
	Fraud (Trial without a Jury)
	Greater London Authority
	Justice and Security (Northern Ireland)
	Local Government and Public Involvement in Health
	Mental Health
	Northern Ireland (St. Andrews Agreement)
	Offender Management
	Pensions
	Statistics and Registration Service
	Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement
	Welfare Reform
	Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide
	Crossrail
	Digital Switchover (Disclosure of Information)
	Legal Services
	Investment Exchanges and Clearing Houses.
	The Government have also introduced the Planning Gain Supplement (Preparations) Bill. None of these Bills is in part or wholly consequent on proposals made at European Union level, though all Bills are prepared having regard generally to the extent to which EU and other international obligations are relevant to the provisions made by the Bill.
	Preparation of the remaining planned Bills is ongoing. It is not possible to state how far, if at all, such Bills will be consequent on European Union proposals.

HOUSE OF COMMONS COMMISSION

Light Bulbs

Sharon Hodgson: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission if the Commission will take steps to replace standard light bulbs throughout the House of Commons estate with energy saving light bulbs; and if he will commission an estimate of the likely savings in  (a) energy cost and  (b) energy usage which would result from such a policy.

Nick Harvey: Steps are already being taken to replace standard light bulbs where possible throughout the Parliamentary Estate.
	Guidelines issued to consultants designing new lighting schemes for large projects require the use of low energy lamps. Smaller projects to replace standard lamps with low energy lamps are completed as new lamp designs become available. For example, low energy lamps have been used on the Christmas trees in New Palace Yard and Westminster Hall.
	The likely savings on this project and in general are as follows:
	
		
			  Project  (a) Saving in energy cost  (b) Saving in energy usage (%) 
			 Christmas tree lights project £3,761 per annum 98 
			 Changing a standard 75 watt lamp with a 15 watt compact fluorescent lamp having the same light output. 0.54 pence per hour at day electricity 80

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Conflict Areas

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of providing development aid to states affected by conflict.

Gareth Thomas: DFID does not maintain an agreed list of 'states affected by conflict'. We do have a list of fragile states which we are currently reviewing as countries frequently move in and out of fragility and conflict, and political circumstances in a country can rapidly change. This list will include countries that are generally recognised to be conflict-affected. Detail on DFID's definition and the list of fragile states can be found in DFID's policy paper, "Why We Need to Work More Effectively in Fragile States", page 7 and annex 1, which is available in the House of Commons Library. As part of the Government's 2007 Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR07), DFID is reviewing how to maximise value for money from our spending on fragile states.
	Our regular cycle of DFID Country Programme Evaluations (CPEs) includes states affected by conflict. In 2005, we teamed up with four other donors to do a joint evaluation of our work in Afghanistan. For 2007, we are planning CPEs for Nepal and Indonesia. We also do specialist reviews of our work on particular themes related to states affected by conflict: for example a review is currently under way of our support to security and justice sector reform in Africa. We are also planning an evaluation of our work in 'fragile states' for 2007-08. Finally, we intend to pilot a 'conflict audit' in a number of countries, which will help us review how well we integrate conflict into all our development work.
	To maximise the effectiveness of development assistance to states affected by conflict, DFID—with other Government Departments, donor agencies, country partners and civil society—conducts conflict assessments. These help us to better understand the conflict dynamics within a region/country and ensure that at a minimum development assistance does not inadvertently fuel conflict, through, for example, being blind to the distributional impacts of aid. More than this, the assessments feed into our broader country planning processes, helping us to identify where our development assistance can be most effective. In Yemen, for example, our conflict assessment highlighted how poor access to justice and security was a significant conflict risk factor and led us to support the development of an integrated justice sector development programme.

Conflict Areas

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent representations he has received about aid provision in states affected by conflict.

Gareth Thomas: I receive numerous representations in relation to aid provision. Given that DFID does not maintain an agreed list of 'states affected by conflict', the only way in which this question could be answered would incur disproportionate costs.

Conflict Areas

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment he has made of the proportion of children in states affected by conflict who are able to access primary education.

Gareth Thomas: The primary source of global data on out-of-school children is the Education for All Global Monitoring Report. The 2007 report was launched on 26 October.
	DFID does not maintain an agreed list of 'states affected by conflict'. We do have a list of 'fragile states' which we are currently reviewing, as countries frequently move in and out of fragility and conflict, and political circumstances in a country can rapidly change. This list will include countries that are generally recognised to be conflict-affected. Detail on DFID's current definition and list of fragile states can be found in DFID's policy paper, "Why We Need to Work More Effectively in Fragile States", page 7 and annex 1, which is available in the House of Commons Library.
	Using the DFID list of 'fragile states', data fromthe 2007 Global Monitoring Report and the UNESCO Institute for Statistics estimates for countries without published data, the percentages of primary-aged children enrolled in primary school in these states is calculated as 69 per cent.

Departmental Staff

Roger Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many  (a) marketing officers,  (b) communications officers and  (c) press officers are employed in his Department; and whatthe total expenditure on communications for his Department was on (i) Government Information and Communication Service staff and (ii) other (A) press officers, (B) special advisers and (C) staff in the last year for which figures are available.

Gareth Thomas: The requested staff figures are in the following table.
	
		
			   Number 
			 Marketing officers 5 
			 Press officers 9 
		
	
	Communication is integral to DFID's work and many staff in different teams are involved in communication work. It is therefore not possible to break down communications expenditure by types of staff, including special advisers. To disaggregate this information would incur disproportionate costs.

Efavirenz

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment he has made of the decision by the government of Thailand to issue a compulsory licence for Efavirenz.

Gareth Thomas: DFID welcomes countries' efforts to use the TRIPS (Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) flexibilities and compulsory licensing in order to improve access to medicines.
	In this particular case, Efavirenz patent-holder Merck says that it has not been consulted over licensing and that the Royal Thai Government have not followed the correct procedure. Merck has requested a meeting with the Royal Thai Government in an attempt to resolve the issue.

Ethical Trading Initiative

Mark Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Ethical Trading Initiative; and if he will make a statement.

Gareth Thomas: DFID helped establish the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) in 1998 and since that time has provided over £2 million to support its development. The overall goal of our support to ETI is to improve the lives of workers and their families through the application of internationally recognised labour standards throughout global supply chains.
	DFID regularly reviews the work we support. An independent review of ETI was undertaken by Ashridge Centre for Business and Society for DFID in 2005. DFID also supported the recently published Impact Assessment commissioned by ETI, which was undertaken independently by the Institute for Development Studies at the University of Sussex.
	The Impact Assessment found that ETI member companies' codes of conduct covered at least 20,000 suppliers, of which nearly all had been informed of the need to comply with the codes, and almost half (9,000) had been assessed for code compliance. The assessment found that many workers had benefited from the implementation of the ETI Base Code. In most of the supply sites in case studies used in the assessment, there were improvements in relation to health and safety, working hours, wages and child labour. For instance, it was more common for the minimum wage to be paid and for there to be greater provision for state insurance and payments, and there was less employment of children and young workers. The assessment foundless positive impact in relation to freedom of association, discrimination, regular employment and harsh treatment.
	DFID is confident that the ETI takes the Impact Assessment seriously and is acting on its recommendations. We recently agreed a five-year Partnership Programme Agreement with ETI in which we have placed specific emphasis on: the need for more poor workers to know about their rights and to be supported by civil society initiatives; increasing the number of businesses taking action to ensure labour laws and standards are implemented; increasing civil society engagement with government to improve legal protection for poor workers; increasing the number of retailers in developed and developing countries that are aware of ethical trade and its benefits; and supporting the private sector to participate with trade unions and NGOs in support of DFID's objectives.
	We believe that in its relatively short life-span the ETI has done much to establish best practice in the credible implementation, monitoring and independent verification of corporate codes of conduct and we look forward to continuing to work with them to this end.

Haiti

Geoffrey Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment he has made of  (a) the humanitarian effects and  (b) the likely effects on agricultural production of the recent floods in Haiti; and whether the British Government plans to provide assistance.

Gareth Thomas: The late November floods in Haiti are reported by the Haitian Red Cross Society to have killed seven people and affected approximately 3,740 families. At least 335 of these families have been evacuated to temporary shelters.
	The International Federation of the Red Cross has provided 80,000 Swiss francs for immediate relief and has launched an appeal for US $522,000. The needs are mostly for clean water, basic health care and kitchen, hygiene and sleeping items.
	Several non-government organisations (NGOs) and UN agencies are also providing emergency assistance, concentrating on these needs.
	The UN considers that the humanitarian needs are being met by existing or pledged assistance.
	Agriculture has been damaged, with losses to fruit and vegetable crops and livestock and disruption of transport to markets. According to agencies present in the flooded areas, it is too early to measure the total damage. Some agencies have started distributing seeds and tools and to plan longer-term recovery assistance.
	In view of the fact that the Red Cross, UN and NGOs are meeting immediate humanitarian needs, DFID will not be providing emergency assistance. We will continue to monitor the post-flooding needs in Haiti and will keep the possibility of support for longer-term agricultural recovery under review.

HIV and AIDS

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how the $1.5 million pledged to the global fund to fight HIV and AIDS has been spent; and which countries have received financial support from the fund.

Gareth Thomas: The UK's commitment to tackle AIDS is set out in 'Taking Action: The UK's strategy for tackling HIV and AIDS in the developing world'. This commits the UK to spend £1.5 billion to tackle AIDS between 2005 and 2008. It outlines how the UK will act to strengthen political leadership on AIDS; to improve the global response to AIDS, ensuring international initiatives and multilateral organisations complement national approaches in developing countries; to support better national programmes, including through our bilateral assistance to country responses; and to improve the long-term response, including through support for research into new medicines, preventative technologies and AIDS programmes. An independent, interim evaluation of Taking Action is currently under way, and we look forward to its findings in early 2007.
	Support to the Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB and Malaria—the Global Fund—is one of the ways we assist efforts to tackle HIV and AIDS. We have committed £359 million to the Global Fund over seven years (2002-08). This includes £100 million for 2006 and a further £100 million for 2007, subject to the Global Fund's performance. The UK is now the fourth largest donor for the period 2006-07 (after France, the US and Japan) and the second largest in the EU. The UK's current commitment to the Global Fund represents around 8 per cent. of its funding.
	Since it was created in January 2002, the Global Fund has approved a total of US $6.8 billion to nearly 400 grants in 136 countries. 56 per cent. of this will go to sub-Saharan Africa, 11 per cent. to East Asia and the Pacific, 10 per cent. to Latin America and the Caribbean, and 8 per cent. to Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

Kashmir

Margaret Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment he has made of the effect of corruption on the disbursement of  (a) UK and  (b) international funds for earthquake relief in Kashmir; and if he will make a statement.

Gareth Thomas: The Government of Pakistan (GoP) have reaffirmed publicly that every effort will be made to ensure that earthquake programmes are implemented in a fully transparent and accountable manner. It is bound to submit its audited accounts to its Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee for review.
	We have been working very closely with the Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority (ERRA) and our key donor partners, such as the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, to help Pakistan meet this commitment. A full range of measures are being put in place by GoP, with our support, to address corruption concerns. Measures to guard against corruption include three layers of auditing, including an internal audit at ERRA, an external audit by the Auditor General of Pakistan, and independent verification of expenditures. In addition, the main seven donors (UN, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the European Commission, the United States, Japan and DFID) have agreed on an earthquake reconstruction monitoring and evaluation framework. The Government of Pakistan have, additionally, agreed with the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and DFID a set of measures to help guard against the risk of corruption, includingthe development of a fully automated financial management information system.

Middle East

James Duddridge: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent discussions Ministers and officials from his Department have had with Ministers and officials from  (a) the Foreign and Commonwealth Office,  (b) the Treasury,  (c) No. 10 and  (d) other Departments on development assistance in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

Hilary Benn: DFID Ministers and officials are in regular discussion with counterparts from other Government Departments, both in London and in Jerusalem. However, it is not our policy to provide details of all such meetings.

Official Cars

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many cars run by his Department were manufactured  (a) in the UK and  (b) abroad.

Gareth Thomas: DFID HQ uses cars supplied by the Government Car and Despatch Agency. Information on cars operated by the Government Car and Despatch Agency is available on page 14 of its Annual Report and Accounts 2005-06, copies of which are available in the Library for the reference of Members.
	DFID's overseas offices do run cars, but no central record is held of their country of manufacture. All our vehicles are procured through processes designed to ensure value for money through open, untied competition.

Tsunami Victims

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much his Department has spent on providing support for the victims of the tsunami.

Gareth Thomas: DFID has pledged £140 millionin response to the Indian Ocean tsunami ofDecember 2005. £75 million was pledged to the immediate humanitarian relief effort, including £7.5 million to Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) activities. Thiswas exceeded as our total commitment rose to£76.214 million. A further £65 million was pledged to meet reconstruction needs in tsunami-affected countries. The breakdown of commitment and spend to date by country (including the provision at regional level) is shown in the following tables.
	
		
			  Humanitarian relief 
			  £ million 
			   Committed  Spent 
			 Regional (inc. DRR) 50.642 41.15 
			 Sri Lanka 4.825 4.653 
			 India 2.767 2.617 
			 Indonesia 16.47 16.47 
			 Somalia 0.5 0.5 
			 Maldives 1.01 1.01 
			 Total 76.214 66.4 
		
	
	The regional commitment includes DFID support to the United Nations and £7.5 million for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) activities. £7.222 million for DRR has yet to be disbursed. We are considering options for spending this allocation. A further £2.592 million has not been spent because projects that we supported cost less to deliver than was originally budgeted. DFID is recovering remaining unspent funds.
	
		
			  Reconstruction and recovery 
			  £ million 
			   Pledged  Committed  Spent 
			 Regional 0 0 0 
			 Sri Lanka 2 2 0 
			 India 3 3 0 
			 Indonesia 59.2 19.6 14.1 
			 Somalia 0 0 0 
			 Maldives 0 0 0 
			 Total 64.2 24.6 14.1 
		
	
	DFID's focus in the reconstruction phase for Sri Lanka has been to build capacity in-country to manage the longer-term recovery effort. This work is focused upon the north and east of Sri Lanka, but has been suspended due to the current crisis.
	The money committed to reconstruction and recovery in India will provide a recovery and reconstruction programme coordinated by the UN for social equity, restoration of livelihoods, shelter, ecosystem restoration, HIV/AIDS, disaster preparedness, and programme management.
	In Indonesia DFID is supporting the following programmes:
	(a) £38 million to the Multi Donor Trust Fund to support housing, infrastructure, transport, capacity building, and projects which support the sustainable management of the environment;
	(b) £10 million providing cash for work as part of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Emergency Response and Transitional Recovery Programme (ERTR);
	(c) £6 million to the World Bank Support for Poor and Disadvantaged Areas (SPADA) programme. This supports governance, growth and service delivery in Aceh and Nias. £3 million through the Decentralisation Support Facility (DSF) managed by the World Bank, to support Government and implement partners' ability to assist tsunami-affected communities to rebuild their lives;
	(d) We are also supporting a number of smaller projects aiming to improve transparency in the way reconstruction funds are managed and build capacity of local governments and agencies.
	In addition to DFID funding, the British Government have also contributed through the European Commission (EC). The EC has already pledged €123 million in humanitarian assistance and up to €350 million for longer-term reconstruction. The UK's share of this is approximately £15 million and £40 million respectively. Her Majesty's Treasury estimates that the Government will also be contributing approximately £50 million through tax relief on public donations made through the Gift Aid Scheme.
	The UK has also contributed to the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, who have both pledged resources in support of the tsunami-affected area.

CULTURE MEDIA AND SPORT

Digital Switchover

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what her estimate is of the number of households which will qualify for assistance n switching over to digital television in each parliamentary constituency in the south-west.

David Lammy: The information is as follows:
	
		
			  Constituency  Total eligible benefits units 
			 Bath 11,000 
			 Bournemouth East 11,000 
			 Bournemouth West 12,000 
			 Bridgwater 13,000 
			 Bristol East 13,000 
			 Bristol North West 12,000 
			 Bristol South 13,000 
			 Bristol West 9,000 
			 Cheltenham 11,000 
			 Christchurch 16,000 
			 Cotswold 10,000 
			 Devizes 11,000 
			 East Devon 16,000 
			 Exeter 13,000 
			 Falmouth and Camborne 14,000 
			 Forest of Dean 11,000 
			 Gloucester 12,000 
			 Kingswood 12,000 
			 Mid Dorset and North Poole 10,000 
			 North Cornwall 15,000 
			 North Devon 14,000 
			 North Dorset 12,000 
			 North Swindon 9,000 
			 North Wiltshire 10,000 
			 Northavon 10,000 
			 Plymouth, Devonport 13,000 
			 Plymouth, Sutton 12,000 
			 Poole 13,000 
			 St. Ives 14,000 
			 Salisbury 13,000 
			 Somerton and Frome 12,000 
			 South Dorset 13,000 
			 South East Cornwall 13,000 
			 South Swindon 9,000 
			 South West Devon 10,000 
			 Stroud 11,000 
			 Taunton 14,000 
			 Teignbridge 16,000 
			 Tewkesbury 11,000 
			 Tiverton and Honiton 14,000 
			 Torbay 16,000 
			 Torridge and West Devon 14,000 
			 Totnes 14,000 
			 Truro and St Austell 15,000 
			 Wansdyke 11,000 
			 Wells 14,000 
			 West Dorset 13,000 
			 Westbury 12,000 
			 Weston-Super-Mare 14,000 
			 Woodspring 10,000 
			 Yeovil 13,000 
			 Totals 634,000 
			  Notes: 1. Rounded to the nearest thousand.  2.The table shows all parliamentary constituencies covered by the Government office for the south west. The region receives terrestrial television services from the following ITV regions: West Country, West, Meridian and Central.  3. Eligibility for help from the digital switchover help scheme will be by benefit unit rather than the whole household definition used by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) the Scottish Executive, the Welsh Assembly Government and the Northern Ireland Office to forecast future household growth.  4. The definition of a benefit unit is a couple and any dependent children. It excludes adults deemed to be non-dependents who, if eligible, will be able to claim assistance from the help scheme in their own right.

Digital Television

David Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what steps she is taking to ensure that digital television coverage extends to  (a) the whole of Blaydon constituency and  (b) Crawcrook village.

David Lammy: The vast majority of households in those areas should be able to receive digital TV services via either digital satellite or digital terrestrial now.
	At switchover, coverage of digital terrestrial television will be increased to substantially match that currently achieved by analogue services.

Gaming Act

Ben Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many remote gaming operators have been prosecuted for breach of section 42(1)(c) of the 1968 Gaming Act in the last 12 months; what charge was brought in each case in which all proceedings are complete; and on what date each charge was brought.

Richard Caborn: In the last 12 months there have been no prosecutions for violating the advertising provisions of the 1968 Gaming Act.
	The joint DCMS/Gambling Commission guidance on remote gambling advertising has led to a significant reduction in adverts that would be deemed to be in breach of the current regulatory framework in this area.

Gershon Review

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much has been spent by her Department and its associated public bodies in order to achieve Gershon efficiency savings; whether these costs have been included in reporting headline efficiency savings; and if she will make a statement.

David Lammy: The Department did not allocate a separate budget to implement Gershon, and the NDPBs were not given funding specifically to implement efficiency savings. Therefore any costs will have been absorbed into day-to-day work and are not included in reporting headline efficiency savings. We have not previously asked NDPBs for information on the cost of implementing the efficiency programme; to obtain this information now could be achieved only at disproportionate cost as it would involve the 28 NDPBs plus DCMS having to review costs since the start of the programme.

Licensing

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what role  (a) town and  (b) parish councils have in making representations to a licensing authority in respect of an application pertaining to their local area; and on what grounds a licensing authority may reject such representations.

David Lammy: Revised guidance to licensing authorities issued by the Secretary of State in June this year clarified that a parish council is a body which represents people living in the vicinity of a premises. It is therefore an interested party able to make relevant representations under the Act. This also applies to town councils.
	For the licensing authority to consider representations from interested parties to be relevant they must relate to the impact of the application on the licensing objectives, be made within the prescribed period and not be frivolous or vexatious.

Ministerial Visits

Peter Soulsby: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport which Ministers in her Department have visited Leicester in the last year; and where they visited in Leicester.

David Lammy: In the last year, I have visited Leicester twice. On 26 January 2006 I opened the Broughton Astley library and visited the Braunstone library, and on 4 July 2006 I spoke at the cultural strategy launch at the Peepul Centre.
	No other DCMS Ministers have visited Leicester in the last 12 months.
	All ministerial visits are conducted in accordance with the Ministerial Code and 'Travel by Ministers'.

Olympic Games

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport which consultants have worked on the 2012 Olympics to date; and what the project task and cost was in each case.

Richard Caborn: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State on 4 December 2006,  Official Report, column 100.

Olympic Games

Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the answer of5 December 2006,  Official Report, columns 264-5W, on the 2012 Olympics, which organisations submitted their responses to the consultation after the deadline of17 November; and if she will make a statement.

David Lammy: The response from the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, my hon. Friend the Member for St. Helens, South(Mr. Woodward) to the hon. Member of 5 December 2006,  Official Report, columns 264-65, contained errors when setting out the responses which were received after 17 November. The correct figures are that 146 responses were received before the deadline and 25 were received after 17 November. These 25 are in the following list.
	Global Refund UK Limited
	People1st
	Openwide International Limited
	Creative and Cultural Skills
	National Caravan Council
	Local Government Association
	Devon County Council
	The Guild of Registered Tourist Guides
	Umbrella response—England's Regional Development Agencies
	Jewellery Quarter Regeneration Partnership;
	Lancaster City Council
	Cardiff Council
	Imagination Ltd
	Greenwich Council—Tourism Development Department
	British Resorts and Destinations Association
	BT Group
	East Midlands Tourism
	SkillsActive
	CTC Charitable Trust
	City of London Corporation
	Campaign for Museums
	Northern Ireland Department for Culture, Arts and Leisure
	East of England Development Agency
	South West Tourism
	Natural England

Olympic Games

Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the answer of5 December 2006,  Official Report, columns 264-5W, on the 2012 Olympics, whether her Department requested submissions from  (a) local authorities and  (b) regional development agencies to the consultation; and if she will make a statement.

David Lammy: DCMS officials sought submissions from a variety of organisations through an open dialogue with stakeholders during the consultation process. This included local authorities and regional development agencies.

Olympic Games

Julian Brazier: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what proportion of materials and waste associated with the development of the Olympic site she plans to be moved by water.

Richard Caborn: The Olympic Delivery Authority is currently considering ways in which construction and waste materials might be transported to and from the Olympic Park, including what use might be made of both rail and waterways. More specific information will be set out in the ODA's Sustainable Development Strategy due to be published in the new year.

Olympic Games

Julian Brazier: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport when the announcement on funding for the Bow Locks to the Prescott Channel is due to be made.

Richard Caborn: British Waterways and other members of the DEFRA family, along with the Olympic Delivery Authority, have drawn up a plan for the regeneration of the waterways of the Lower Lea Valley and Olympic Park. These proposals include the provision of a lock and weir on the Prescott Channel, which will bring a wide range of benefits. Beneficiaries will contribute towards the cost of the lock.
	A number of issues remain to be clarified. The timing of an announcement depends on when these issues are resolved, hopefully early next year.

Olympic Games

Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what progress has been made against the national target on physical exercise set out in the 2002 Game Plan report published by the Prime Minister's Strategy Unit; and if she will make a statement.

Richard Caborn: The Government remain committed to the Game Plan aim of increasing levels of participation in physical activity. DCMS has set out its priorities through its public service agreement (PSA) to increase the number of people from priority groups who participate in sport by 3 per cent. by 2008. Progress at national level will be measured via the Taking Part survey.

Theatres

Edward Vaizey: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what estimate she has made of changes in the number of theatres since 1997.

David Lammy: No estimates have been made on the change in the number of theatres since 1997.
	The Arts Council England commissioned an economic impact study of UK theatre, published in 2004, which estimates that 541 theatres make up the building-base of UK theatre. This includes commercial theatres, local authority venues and subsidised theatres.
	The number of theatre organisations receiving regular funding from Arts Council England has increased from 192 in 1996-07 to 234 in 2006-07.

Tote

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will make a statement on progress with her Department's plans to sell the Tote.

Richard Caborn: I expect to be able to announce soon how the Government intend to proceed with its objectives of removing the Tote from public ownership, promoting horserace pool betting and benefiting racing.

Written Questions

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what target her Department has for the maximum acceptable amount of time to answer parliamentary written questions; and what percentage of parliamentary answers met that target in each parliamentary session since 2001.

David Lammy: My Department aims to answer parliamentary questions within the timescales specified by Parliament, which is named day questions on the day named, and ordinary written questions within a working week.

DEFENCE

Armed Forces: Casualty Reporting

Mark Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence why data on casualties have not been centrally compiled for operations in  (a) Sierra Leone and  (b) the Balkans since May 1997.

Adam Ingram: Data on casualties were not collected centrally before the formation of the Joint Casualty and Compassionate Centre in April 2005 because casualty reporting and tracking was the responsibility of each Service individually. Historic data on casualties have now been compiled for major and ongoing operations in Afghanistan, the Balkans and Iraq and other theatres brigaded together, including Sierra Leone. The Defence Analytical Services Agency is currently working to reconcile these data. When this detailed work is complete it will be placed in the public domain.

Conventional Military Threats

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of conventional military forces in tackling terrorism  (a) in the UK and  (b) overseas.

Des Browne: The police have primacy in the detection and prosecution of criminal activity undertaken in the UK by terrorists and their sympathisers and in the maintenance of public safety. The armed forces can and do provide support to the police, at their request, using specialist military capabilities (for example through bomb disposal). The permanent deployment since 1969 of the armed forces in support of the police in Northern Ireland has, for example, been an essential element in delivering the improved security situation seen in recent years.
	Overseas, the armed forces continue to play a key role as part of the cross-Government and international effort to counter the terrorist threat. Building the counter-terrorist capacity of friends and allies is an integral part of the Government's strategy addressing the terrorist threat. Conflict prevention, peace support operations and defence diplomacy can all assist in prevention by tackling some of the underlying causes of terrorism.
	Both at home and overseas, our armed forces can therefore play an important role in pursuing terrorists and those who support them but there is no military solution to the terrorist threat. Irrespective of location, the response must be wide-ranging and include respect for the rule of law, international obligations, and human rights, all of which are threatened by the activities of terrorists.

Letters of Condolence

Mark Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many letters of condolence he sent to the next of kin of personnel who have died in service in  (a) Afghanistan and  (b) Iraq in each year between 2001 and 2005; and how many he has sent in 2006.

Des Browne: Since August 2003, the Defence Secretary has written letters of condolence to the next of kin of all those who have died on operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. Details of the numbers of fatalities in Iraq and Afghanistan are available on the MOD website:
	www.mod.uk

Living Accommodation

Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many armed forces families in  (a) Germany and  (b) Cyprus are waiting for family accommodation; and what the (i) average and (ii) longest wait is which has been experienced.

Derek Twigg: No Service personnel entitled to Service Families Accommodation (SFA) arecurrently waiting for accommodation in Cyprus or Germany.
	The average wait during the last 12 months for the allocation of SFA in Germany was seven days and the longest wait for SFA was 101 days. The 101-day wait resulted from the need to convert two properties into one to meet that particular family's needs.

Nimrod

Peter Bone: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the average age is of the Nimrod fleet of aircraft.

Adam Ingram: I refer the hon. Member to the answerI gave on 16 October 2006,  Official Report,column 985W.

NORTHERN IRELAND

Autism

Eddie McGrady: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the waiting times are for an autism diagnosis in each health trust area in Northern Ireland.

Paul Goggins: The information requested is not held centrally and will take some time to collate. I will write to the hon. Member with the relevant information as soon as it becomes available and place a copy in the Library.

Departmental Expenditure

Eddie McGrady: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what funds were allocated to the  (a) Police Service of Northern Ireland Historic Enquiries Team,  (b) Public Prosecutions Service,  (c) Forensic Science Service and  (d) Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland (i) in total and (ii) for investigating deaths occurring during the troubles; and what funds have been allocated to each body in total and for this purpose for (A) 2006 and (B) 2007.

Paul Goggins: The Government are committed to dealing with the past in Northern Ireland in order to help the whole community to move forward. Reviewing unresolved deaths as a result of the security situation is one way of helping to achieve this. A significant amount of money has been allocated to the task and all the organisations involved in the work are committed to working together to ensure the overall benefits are maximised. PSNI HET has an individual budget of £24.2 million, of which the budget for 2005-06 was£4.4 million, with an actual spend of £3.95 million. The budget for 2007 is £4.7 million. The project is scheduled to last six years and the following table details the expenditure of each organisation in relation to HET work.
	
		
			  HET funding allocation by organisation 
			2005-06  2006-07 
			  Organisation  Total original overall budget for HET related work over six year period (£ million)  Total budget for organisation (£ million)  Total budget for HET related work within organisation (£)  Total budget for organisation (£ million)  Total budget for HET related work within organisation (£) 
			 PSNI HET 24.2 4.4 (1)4.4 million 4.7 4.7 million 
			 PPS 1.8 25.1 (2)115,000 34.6 330,000 
			 FSANI 7.5 (3)8.2 (4)354,000 (3)8.9 921,000 
			 OPONI (5)— 8.5 93,000 9.3 497,000 
			 (1) £3.95 million actual spend. (2) £44,000 actual spend. (3) FSANI generate income via a charging arrangement. (4) £288,000 actual spend. (5) No specific budget has yet been allocated to OPONI this will shortly be resolved. (6) £136,000 actual spend.

House Prices

Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the average house price is in Northern Ireland.

David Hanson: There are no official figures on the average house prices in Northern Ireland published by Government.
	However, the hon. Member may wish to note that the latest Northern Ireland Quarterly House Price Index figures prepared by university of Ulster Jordanstown (UUJ) and released on 4 December record an average house price of £180,128 for the 3(rd) quarter (July-September 2006).
	Further information is available from their website:
	www.ulster.ac.uk.

Personal Income

David Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will place in the Library the figures used to produce the Northern Ireland income distribution charts on page 20 of Households Below Average Income in Northern Ireland for each of the three reports that have been published.

David Hanson: This information has been placed in the Library.

Police: Londonderry

Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many police officers were deployed in relation to the policing of the Apprentice Boys parade in Londonderry on  (a) 2 December 2006 and  (b) 3 December 2005.

Paul Goggins: PSNI deployed 603 officers this year and 588 in 2005.
	While this year a greater number of officers were deployed in high visibility equipment, no police officers were deployed on the parade route in public order equipment.
	It is also worth noting that the military were not deployed on the streets for any parade this year.

Single Payment Scheme

Roger Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what his latest estimate is of the percentage of single payment scheme funds which were disbursed by 30 June in Northern Ireland; and if he will make a statement.

David Cairns: At 30 June 2006, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development had paid out97 per cent. (£215.353 million) of the £221.804 million budget allocation for the 2005 Single Farm Payment Scheme. The Department was successful in its administration of payments in the first year of this scheme.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

Afghanistan

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment she has made of the efficacy of the eradication of poppy cultivation in Afghanistan.

Kim Howells: The UN Office on Drugs and Crime 2006 Opium Survey estimates that 15,300 hectares, or about 10 per cent. of opium poppy, was eradicated in Afghanistan this year, some three times more than last year. The survey also suggests that where eradication took place in 2005, farmers were less likely to plant poppy in the next season. Eradication is a useful deterrent where there is access to legal livelihoods and when used as part of a balanced counter-narcotics strategy, such as the Afghan government's National Drug Control Strategy, which includes measures to interdict drugs, bring criminals to justice, build institutions and provide alternatives for poppy farmers. In areas of Afghanistan, where access to governance, security and development has improved, reductions in cultivation achieved last year have been sustained and in some cases cultivation has fallen further.

Afghanistan

Geoffrey Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment she has made of this year's opium production in Afghanistan; how many metric tonnes of opium were produced in Afghanistan in each of the last three years; how much she estimates has been produced to date in 2006-07; whether there has been an increase in production in  (a) Helmand and  (b) Oruzgan; and whether these figures meet London Compact benchmarks for eradication.

Kim Howells: The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) conducts an annual survey into the level of opium poppy cultivation and production in Afghanistan. UNODC figures show a yield of 4,200 metric tonnes (mt) in 2004, 4,100 mt in 2005 and 6,100 mt in 2006. It is too early to estimate overall levels of opium production for 2007.
	The cultivation picture varies between and within provinces. In 2006 there was a 162 per cent. increase in Helmand, accounting for 70 per cent. of the overall increase, and a rise of 379 per cent. in Uruzgan. However, in three of the four highest poppy cultivating provinces in 2005, production was down this year (Balkh—33 per cent., Farah—25 per cent. and Kandahar—3 per cent.). Where access to governance, security and development has improved, reductions achieved last year have been sustained, and in some cases cultivation has fallen further. This shows that the National Drug Control Strategy is starting to have an impact in some parts of the country. President Karzai recently said
	'we must be looking at a 10-year period'
	to rid Afghanistan of poppy. Achieving the Afghan Compact benchmark of a sustained annual reduction in the amount of land under poppy cultivation by 2010 will be a key step towards this goal.

Bangladesh

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent assessment she has made of the political stability of Bangladesh.

Kim Howells: Elections in Bangladesh are scheduled for January 2007. It is vital for the future of Bangladesh that these elections are seen to be free, fair and peaceful, and that the result reflects the will of the Bangladeshi people. International observers will have an important role to play in validating the outcome of the elections—the UK expects to participate in an EU observation mission. We shall continue to take a close interest in preparations for elections and stand ready to help where we can, but ultimately it is for the parties and the people of Bangladesh to make their elections a success. We look to the new Caretaker Government to carry out its functions in an impartial manner, in line with Bangladesh's constitution and in the best interests of the Bangladeshi people. We look to the Election Commission to act in a competent and independent manner.
	The armed forces have been deployed on the streets since 10 December. We shall monitor that deployment and trust that military personnel will perform their duties impartially and with due respect for human rights and the rule of law.
	In the longer term, a dysfunctional and confrontational political culture threatens Bangladeshi democracy; deeply rooted corruption and poor governance threaten Bangladesh's potential economic development; extremism threatens security and stability. The next Government will need to address these issues if Bangladesh is to fulfil its ambitions.

Bangladesh

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reports she has received from the British high commissioner to Bangladesh on the implications of Islamic fundamentalism in Bangladesh for the political situation.

Kim Howells: Our high commission in Dhaka regularly reports on the political situation in Bangladesh. This is a critical time for the country. The conduct of the elections in early 2007 will shape Bangladesh's future.
	A number of Islamist parties will participate in the elections. We welcome their commitment to democracy and the use of peaceful means to achieve their objectives. Our concern is with those organisations and individuals who use violence to pursue their extremist agendas. We are encouraged by the recent efforts of the Government of Bangladesh to curb extremism and remain committed to working with them in the long term to address this important challenge.
	We believe that strong democracy represents the most effective means of tackling the roots of extremism in Bangladesh and continue to call for free, fair, peaceful and accepted elections in Bangladesh in early 2007.

Iraq: Human Rights

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reports she has received on the observance of the human rights of gay men in Iraq.

Kim Howells: I have received only limited reporting on the observance of the human rights of gay men in Iraq. The challenge for the Government of Iraq is to implement the constitution in such a way as to uphold the rights of all Iraqis, and to develop the capability of the Iraqi security forces to protect these rights in practice. The United Kingdom is supporting the security and justice sectors in Iraq to enable them to carry out this essential task.

Ministerial Visits

Geoffrey Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what visits the Minister for Trade (Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Department for Trade and Industry) made on his visit to India and Pakistan; what representations he made regarding anti-conversion laws; and what meetings he held with  (a) Indian and  (b) Pakistani trade representatives.

Ian McCartney: I visited Bangladesh, India and Pakistan on 22-29 November 2006. The purpose of the visit was primarily to promote greater bilateral trade between the UK and South Asia, but other foreign affairs objectives were included, particularly in the area of human rights, which fall particularly in my portfolio.
	In Bangladesh my programme included calls on the President/Chief Adviser of the Caretaker government and the leaders of the Bangladesh Nationalist party and Awami League. I also met human rights representatives, civil society leaders, political leaders from other parties and key UK investors in the energy and power sectors. I delivered a keynote speech attended by leading figures from the business community, local officials, and diplomats.
	I delivered all our messages for free, fair and peaceful elections, asked for responsible leadership from the main parties, and urged both leaders to address human rights concerns in their election manifestos. In particular, I raised extra-judicial killings by law enforcement agencies, specifically the Rapid Action Battalion, with the main party leaders.
	I also presided over a round table discussion. At the discussion, leading human rights advocates outlined a range of issues of concern in Bangladesh, including levels of political and societal violence and the abuse of rights of vulnerable groups: ethnic and religious minorities, women and children. Participants identified examples of required political, legal and attitudinal changes and stressed the importance of the international community in applying pressure on the Government of Bangladesh to achieve these. International business had a role to play through ethical investment; human rights advocates needed to make the business case for corporate social responsibility.
	In Delhi I met the Cabinet Ministers of Commerce and Industry, and Petroleum; Ministers of State in the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry (Kumar) and the Ministry of External Affairs; and the Chief Minister of Delhi. I also spoke at the World Economic Forum and met business leaders and British investors in India. I was joined by a delegation of six UK infrastructure companies.
	My meeting with Anand Sharma, Minister of State for External Affairs, covered a range of issues: regional (Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Burma); thematic (co-operation on security and counter-terrorism); and UN specific (Human Rights Commission and UN reform). The visit also provided an opportunity to reinforce some of our broader messages on the investment environment.
	In Kolkatta I inaugurated two income generation projects supported by the Deputy High Commission and gave a keynote address at the Women's Interlink Foundation, which looks after trafficked girls and the children of sex workers. I also had the opportunity to meet many of the children involved in the programme during my visit to the non-governmental organisations. I also met with the West Bengal Chief Minister, and discussed major infrastructure projects (a second airport, a new deep water port, urban and river regeneration) and other key areas for British companies to consider—chemicals, petro-chemicals, agri-retail, healthcare and IT.
	In Pakistan I had separate meetings in Islamabad with Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, and the Ministers for Privatisation and Investment and for Commerce. I was accompanied by a high-level business delegation from Standard Chartered Bank, HSBC, London Stock Exchange (LSE) and HCA (Healthcare). I also gave a media briefing in Karachi, and met UK businesses and the visiting Manchester trade mission.
	I stressed, to Prime Minister Aziz and Akhtar Khan, the UK's commitment to an ambitious, pro-development outcome to the Doha Round negotiations, and ensuring that the impact on neighbouring countries was taken into account in any negotiations. With the Prime Minister, I raised UK concerns on Intellectual Property Rights issues in Pakistan, particularly in pharmaceuticals and publishing. With Akhtar Khan, I spoke of our outreach to stakeholders in the UK. I invited the Minister to visit a range of cities e.g. Glasgow, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds and Bradford to see first hand the contribution they were making to UK society and the UK economy. I emphasised the need for continued improvement in the levels of maintenance and safety of Pakistan International Airlines. I thanked Prime Minister Aziz for his help with the release of Tahir Hussain and congratulated him on the recent Women's Protection Bill, there will be a follow-up on a number of other human rights issues.

Nuclear Weapons: Proliferation

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what new initiatives on  (a) access to nuclear technology for peaceful purposes,  (b) non-proliferation and  (c) disarmament have been considered by the Norwegian 7-Country Initiative; and which country was the prime instigator of each such initiative.

Kim Howells: There are no specific new initiatives currently being pursued by the Group. The seven countries represent a wide range of political opinion. We continue to promote better understanding through sharing views on a range of nuclear issues and fostering fresh thinking, particularly in the run-up to the First Non-Proliferation Treaty Preparatory Committee.

Rwanda

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs 
	(1)  what recent discussions she has had with the Government of France on mass killings in Rwanda;
	(2)  what reports she has received on the role of France in mass killings in Rwanda.

Kim Howells: We are aware of the debate in the press concerning France's role in the circumstances surrounding the genocide.
	We have had discussions with the French and Rwandan Governments about the diplomatic repercussions of the French and Rwandan investigations into the circumstances surrounding the genocide of 1994. We continue to believe it is in the best interest of both sides to work together to ensure there is no lasting damage to their long-term bilateral relationship.

Somalia

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions she has had with the Governments of  (a) Egypt,  (b) Saudi Arabia,  (c) Libya,  (d) Ethiopia,  (e) Yemen and  (f) Uganda on (i) the situation in Somalia and (ii) arms flows in the region.

Geoff Hoon: Our embassies in all these countries have discussed the situation in Somalia with their host Governments and urged them to support League of Arab States and Intergovernmental Authority on Development initiatives to achieve reconciliation and peace in Somalia.
	With our Security Council partners, we are looking into reports of violations of the arms embargo and considering what further action the Security Council can take to improve compliance with it.

Sri Lanka

Geoffrey Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment she has made of the likely effect of newly instituted anti-terror measures in Sri Lanka on the conflict inSri Lanka; and if she will make a statement on the state of the current ceasefire in Sri Lanka.

Kim Howells: It is as yet too early to assess the full impact of the Emergency, Prevention and Prohibition of Terrorism and Specified Terrorist Activities Regulations of 2006 announced by President Rajapakse of Sri Lanka on 7 December. We support the right of the Sri Lankan government to take legitimate measures to counter the threats posed by domestic terrorism. Where such measures may impact on the freedoms of the general population it is important that they are proportionate and the State concerned continues to meet international human rights obligations.
	We call on the Sri Lankan government to pursue the peace process vigorously, as the only real long-term solution to the country's problems. We welcome the President's assurance that the door to negotiations with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) is wide open. To that end we acknowledge exemptions which allow for activity, "facilitating the development of a peaceful political solution" and "development activities". A fair and objective process for granting such exemptions with appropriate safeguards should rapidly be put in place.
	We are reassured by the Sri Lankan government's agreement that the meeting of the NorwegianSpecial Envoy, Mr. Hanssen-Bauer with the LTTE on8 December should take place. It is essential that in its role as facilitators of the peace process Norway is able to have continuing contact with all sides. We welcome Foreign Minister Samaraweera's assurances that the regulations are not intended to impede the efforts of the international diplomatic community towards peace building.

Sudan

Geoffrey Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs 
	(1)  what recent assessment she has made of  (a) reports by UNMIS of clashes between rebel groups and Government forces and allied militias and  (b) the activities of the Janjaweed militia and other armed movements in Sudan;
	(2)  what reports she has received of recent conflictin and around El Fasher in Sudan; what recent representations she has received from the UK embassy in Khartoum on the recent conflict; and what assessment she has made of the level of involvement of Government forces in attacks on civilians in Sudan.

Ian McCartney: An influx of Arab militia in El Fasher has led to increased tension there. Clashes occurred on 4 December between Arab militia and the Mini Minawi faction of the Sudan Liberation Movement rebel group that have resulted in fatalities on both sides. The UN has evacuated a number of its non-essential staff. We are in regular contact with our embassy in Khartoum about these developments and more broadly on the security situation in Darfur.
	These clashes are a violation of the ceasefire. We urge all parties to stop fighting immediately and re-engage in the political process. Sudanese Government support of Arab militias and involvement in attacks that have resulted in civilian deaths are a serious impediment to the peace process. We are calling upon the Government to effect an immediate ceasefire and to honour their commitments to disarm the Janjaweed.

HOME DEPARTMENT

Age of Consent

Ashok Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will assess the merits of amending legislation governing the sexual age of consent so as to introduce a within five years rule.

Vernon Coaker: The Government have no intention of changing the law in relation to the age of consent. The issue was considered as part of the Review of Sexual Offences in 1999 and the public consultation which followed, "Setting the Boundaries; Reforming the law on sex offences" (Home Office, July 2000), which preceded the Sexual Offences Act 2003. Responses were received from a wide range of practitioners and members of the public, and as part of the review process, group discussions were held with secondary school children aged between 14-16 years.
	Guidance from the Crown Prosecution Service in relation to sexual activity with a person under 16, allows prosecutors considerable discretion in deciding whether or not to prosecute. In deciding whether it is in the public interest to prosecute, prosecutors should take into account the age of the parties concerned, the emotional maturity of the younger party and whether he or she entered into the relationship willingly, and the nature of the relationship between the parties.

Assets Recovery Agency

Mark Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the value was of the receipts realised in each case completed by each regional recovery team of the Assets Recovery Agency; and what type of assets were recovered in each case.

Vernon Coaker: While the Agency has investigators co-located with the five multi-agency Regional Asset Recovery Teams, it does not itself have regional recovery teams. The Agency has branches in Belfast and London. The value of receipts realised in completed cases since the Agency's establishment in 2003, split between its two branches, is set out in the following table.
	A wide range of assets have been recovered, the most common being real property (e.g. houses, motor vehicles and jewellery), cash and financial services products (e.g. bank accounts and insurance policies). It would be disproportionately costly to produce a full list of assets recovered.
	
		
			  Assets Recovery Agency, value of assets realised 
			   Total  England and Wales( 1)  Northern Ireland 
			 2003-04 — — — 
			 2004-05 4,385,631 3,932,345 453,287 
			 2005-06 4,119,167 3,348,607 770,560 
			 2006-07 (provisional figures to end of November 2006) 13,641,102 13,355,792 285,310 
			 (1 )includes tax cases where the investigation began in Northern Ireland

Child Abductions

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what representations he has received on introducing measures to place people other than parents prosecuted for  (a) abducting and  (b) attempting to abduct children on the Sex Offenders Register.

Vernon Coaker: At the end of last year, we consulted with over 130 organisations on the Sexual Offences Act 2003 and how it was working in practice. Those consulted included law enforcement agencies and legal and judicial bodies. Specific questions were asked in relation to whether the list of relevant offences for which a sex offender could be made subject to the notification requirements (commonly referred to as the 'Sex Offenders Register') needed to be amended to include other offences. Nine organisations responded to these questions, including the Association of Chief Police Officers and three local Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPAs).
	We are also aware of a case in York which has led to the 'Change It' campaign by the York local paper  The Press to include child abduction on the list of offences for which a sex offender can be made subject to the notification requirements. We have been presented with a public petition from  The Press to that effect.

Child Abductions

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he has plans to bring forward amendments to the Sex Offenders Act 2003 to place on the Sex Offenders Register strangers who abduct or attempt to abduct children.

Vernon Coaker: We have undertaken a review of the offences listed in Schedules 3 and 5 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003, whereby if someone has been convicted of one of those offences, they may be made subject to the notification requirements (commonly referred to as the 'Sex Offenders Register'). As part of the review, we have become aware of concerns that child abduction should be added to the list of relevant offences. We are currently finalising an Order amending the list of offences in Schedules 3 and 5 of the 2003 Act which we will lay as soon as possible.

Child Abductions

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many children were abducted by  (a) strangers and  (b) family members in England and Wales in each of the last five years.

Vernon Coaker: The number of recorded offences of child abduction are given in the following table. It is not possible to identify the relationship of the suspect to the victim in the recorded crime statistics. Not all child abductions will necessarily have a sexual motive; many child abductions are likely to be carried out by parents where there are disputes of custody.
	
		
			   Number 
			 2001-02 584 
			 2002-03(1) 846 
			 2003-04 930 
			 2004-05 1,033 
			 2005-06 920 
			 (1 )The National Crime Recording Standard was introduced on 1 April 2002. Figures from that date are not directly comparable with those for 2001-02.

Correspondence

Susan Kramer: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will reply to the letter of 25 July 2006 from the hon. Member for Richmond Park on a Freedom of Information request by a constituent Ms Konstam (Home Office reference P1053608).

Liam Byrne: holding answer 27 November 2006
	I responded to the hon. Lady's letter of 25 July 2006 on 18 September 2006. The Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND) officials responded separately toMs Konstam's Freedom of Information request on27 July 2006 and Ms Konstam later acknowledged that reply. IND officials recently provided an update toMs Konstam on 6 December 2006.

Demonstrations

Ashok Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will assess the merits of introducing measures to prohibit offensive chants and slogans being used at demonstrations.

Vernon Coaker: Public Order legislation is kept under review in the light of changing circumstances and demonstrator behaviour. The police have a range of powers available now to deal with demonstrations. For example, it is an offence to use or display threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour within the hearing or sight of a person likely to be caused harassment, alarm or distress.

DNA Database

Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will break down by  (a) police force and  (b) ethnic origin the number of those who have a DNA profile and were neither charged nor cautioned.

Joan Ryan: Data on whether persons with a profile on the National DNA Database (NDNAD) have been charged or cautioned for an offence are not held on the NDNAD, but are held on the Police National Computer (PNC). The information requested could be obtained only at disproportionate cost by cross-searching approximately three million records retained for such persons on the PNC.

DNA Database

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage of those on the DNA Database have been convicted of a crime.

John Reid: holding answer 23 November 2006
	The National DNA Database (NDNAD) records the DNA profile for a particular individual. It does not hold data on arrest and criminal records. This information is held on the Police National Computer (PNC). Information provided by the Police Information Technology Organisation (PITO) from the PNC indicated that as at 14 July 2006, 2,922,624 persons on the NDNAD also had an entry on PNC. Of these, 2,317,555 (79.3 per cent.) had a conviction or caution (i.e. a criminal record). The difference between the two figures is attributable to: young persons under 18 who have a formal warning or reprimand recorded on PNC; persons who have been charged with a recordable offence where proceedings are ongoing; and persons who have been arrested for a recordable offence but no further action was taken.

DNA Database

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people were on the DNA Database on 1 November, broken down by police force.

John Reid: holding answer 23 November 2006
	The information requested is shown in the following table. Statistics are produced at the end of each month, so this shows the position on 31 October rather than1 November. The number shown is the number of individuals sampled by each force, who are not necessarily resident in the force area.
	
		
			  Police force  Number 
			 Avon and Somerset 70,694 
			 Bedfordshire 33,003 
			 British Transport 30,873 
			 Cambridgeshire 38,140 
			 Cheshire 58,275 
			 City of London Police 17,240 
			 Cleveland 37,197 
			 Cumbria 32,887 
			 Derbyshire 61,964 
			 Devon and Cornwall 79,384 
			 Dorset 36,452 
			 Durham 38,646 
			 Dyfed-Powys/Haverford West 37,414 
			 Essex 88,475 
			 Gloucestershire 32,733 
			 Greater Manchester Police 181,835 
			 Gwent 38,873 
			 Hampshire 104,360 
			 Hertfordshire 53,869 
			 Humberside 61,435 
			 Kent 104,296 
			 Lancashire 101,271 
			 Leicestershire 49,435 
			 Lincolnshire 33,678 
			 Merseyside 92,510 
			 Metropolitan Police 596,328 
			 Norfolk 48,508 
			 North Wales 43,421 
			 North Yorkshire 40,455 
			 Northamptonshire 32,445 
			 Northumbria 122,650 
			 Nottinghamshire 74,188 
			 South Wales Constabulary 88,641 
			 South Yorkshire 85,760 
			 Staffordshire 70,263 
			 Suffolk 34,189 
			 Surrey 43,721 
			 Sussex 80,263 
			 Thames Valley 103,439 
			 Warwickshire Police 22,066 
			 West Mercia 55,482 
			 West Midlands 211,971 
			 West Yorkshire 156,071 
			 Wiltshire 37,473 
			 Total 3,462,275

DNA Database

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many  (a) males and  (b) females aged (i) under 14, (ii) 15 to 24, (iii) 25 to 34, (iv) 35 to 44, (v) 45 to 54, (vi) 55 to 64 and (vii) over 65 years in each of the ethnic appearance categories were registered on the National DNA Database in each period for which figures are available.

Joan Ryan: The information requested is supplied in the following tables.
	
		
			  National DNA database at 30 November 2006: age recorded when DNA sample taken 
			  Males 
			  Ethnic appearance  Age range  Number of profiles  Number of individuals using 11%  Percentage 
			  Unknown Under 14 14,115 12,562 4.23 
			  15-24 129,552 115,301 38.80 
			  25-34 83,039 73,905 24.87 
			  35-44 58,934 52,451 17.65 
			  45-54 30,575 27,212 9.16 
			  55-64 12,952 11,527 3.88 
			  Over 65 4,700 4,183 1.41 
			 Total unknown — 333,867 297,142 — 
			  Note: 562 profiles with the unknown ethnic appearance category had a unknown age on load 
		
	
	
		
			  Ethnic appearance  Age range  Number of profiles  Number of individuals using 11%  Percentage 
			  Afro- Caribbean Under 14 15,555 13,844 6.36 
			  15-24 98,707 87,849 40.34 
			  25-34 67,872 60,406 27.74 
			  35-44 46,500 41,385 19.00 
			  45-54 11,906 10,596 4.87 
			  55-64 2,895 2,577 1.18 
			  Over 65 1,260 1,121 0.51 
			 Total Afro Caribbean — 244,695 217,779 — 
			 3,007 profiles with the Afro-Caribbean ethnic appearance code had a unknown age on load 
		
	
	
		
			  Ethnic appearance  Age range  Number of profiles  Number of individuals using 11%  Percentage 
			  Arab Under 14 613 546 2.41 
			  15-24 9,458 8,418 37.26 
			  25-34 9,452 8,412 37.23 
			  35-44 4,028 3,585 15.87 
			  45-54 1,454 1,294 5.73 
			  55-64 311 277 1.23 
			  Over 65 71 63 0.28 
			 Total Arab  25,387 22,594  
			 146 profiles with the Arab ethnic appearance code had a unknown age on load 
		
	
	
		
			  Ethnic appearance  Age range  Number of profiles  Number of individuals using 11%  Percentage 
			  Asian Under 14 8,068 7,181 4.61 
			  15-24 80,796 71,908 46.16 
			  25-34 50,106 44,594 28.63 
			  35-44 22,064 19,637 12.61 
			  45-54 10,276 9,146 5.87 
			  55-64 2,762 2,458 1.58 
			  Over 65 950 846 0.54 
			 Total Asian  175,022 155,770  
			 848 profiles with the Asian ethnic appearance code had a unknown age on load 
		
	
	
		
			  Ethnic appearance  Age range  Number of profiles  Number of individuals using 11%  Percentage 
			  Dark Skinned European Under 14 3,210 2,857 5.09 
			  15-24 24,657 21,945 39.13 
			  25-34 20,583 18,319 32.67 
			  35-44 10,398 9,254 16.50 
			  45-54 3,151 2,804 5.00 
			  55-64 819 729 1.30 
			  Over 65 191 170 0.30 
			 Total dark skinned European — 63,009 56,078 — 
			 478 profiles with the dark skinned European ethnic appearance code had a unknown age on load 
		
	
	
		
			  Ethnic appearance  Age range  Number of profiles  Number of individuals using 11%  Percentage 
			  Oriental Under 14 418 372 2.72 
			  15-24 5,638 5,018 36.68 
			  25-34 4,842 4,309 31.50 
			  35-44 2,981 2,653 19.40 
			  45-54 1,144 1,018 7.44 
			  55-64 274 244 1.78 
			  Over 65 73 65 0.47 
			 Total Oriental — 15,370 13,679 — 
			 46 profiles with the oriental ethnic appearance code had a unknown age on load 
		
	
	
		
			  Ethnic appearance  Age range  Number of profiles  Number of individuals using 11%  Percentage 
			  White Skinned European Under 14 186,734 166,193 7.36 
			  15-24 1,053,239 937,383 41.51 
			  25-34 594,437 529,049 23.43 
			  35-44 407,413 362,598 16.06 
			  45-54 190,950 169,946 7.53 
			  55-64 79,550 70,800 3.14 
			  Over 65 25,038 22,284 0.99 
			 Total White skinned European — 2,537,361 2,258,251 — 
			 20,440 profiles with the white skinned European ethnic appearance code had a unknown age on load 
		
	
	
		
			  Females 
			  Ethnic appearance  Age range  Number of profiles  Number of individuals using 11%  Percentage 
			  Unknown Under 14 5,381 4,789 6.92 
			  15-24 30,990 27,581 39.86 
			  25-34 18,844 16,771 24.24 
			  35-44 14,182 12,622 18.24 
			  45-54 6,058 5,392 7.79 
			  55-64 1,827 1,626 2.35 
			  Over 65 465 414 0.60 
			 Total Unknown — 77,747 69,195 — 
			 39 profiles with the unknown ethnic appearance category had a unknown age on load 
		
	
	
		
			  Ethnic appearance  Age range  Number of profiles  Number of individuals using 11%  Percentage 
			  Afro- Caribbean Under 14 5,921 5,270 10.56 
			  15-24 24,621 21,913 43.89 
			  25-34 14,341 12,763 25.57 
			  35-44 8,848 7,875 15.77 
			  45-54 1,971 1,754 3.51 
			  55-64 311 277 0.55 
			  Over 65 82 73 0.15 
			 Total Afro Caribbean — 56,095 49,925 — 
			 127 profiles with the Afro-Caribbean ethnic appearance code had a unknown age on load 
		
	
	
		
			  Ethnic appearance  Age range  Number of profiles  Number of individuals using 11%  Percentage 
			  Arab Under 14 108 96 4.71 
			  15-24 761 677 33.22 
			  25-34 667 594 29.11 
			  35-44 448 399 19.55 
			  45-54 214 190 9.34 
			  55-64 67 60 2.92 
			  Over 65 26 23 1.13 
			 Total Arab — 2,291 2,039 — 
			 3 profiles with the Arab ethnic appearance code had a unknown age on load 
		
	
	
		
			  Ethnic appearance  Age range  Number of profiles  Number of individuals using 11%  Percentage 
			  Asian Under 14 1,566 1,394 6.89 
			  15-24 10,268 9,139 45.17 
			  25-34 6,131 5,457 26.97 
			  35-44 3,003 2,673 13.21 
			  45-54 1,318 1,173 5.80 
			  55-64 371 330 1.63 
			  Over 65 76 68 0.33 
			 Total Asian — 22,733 20,232 — 
			 34 profiles with the Asian ethnic appearance code had a unknown age on load 
		
	
	
		
			  Ethnic appearance  Age range  Number of profiles  Number of individuals using 11%  Percentage 
			  Dark Skinned European Under 14 1,451 1,291 11.40 
			  15-24 5,370 4,779 42.20 
			  25-34 3,305 2,941 25.97 
			  35-44 1,828 1,627 14.36 
			  45-54 583 519 4.58 
			  55-64 153 136 1.20 
			  Over 65 36 32 0.28 
			 Total Dark Skinned European — 12,726 11,326 — 
			 40 profiles with the dark skinned European ethnic appearance code had a unknown age on load 
		
	
	
		
			  Ethnic appearance  Age range  Number of profiles  Number of individuals using 11%  Percentage 
			  Oriental Under 14 207 184 3.70 
			  15-24 2,113 1,881 37.79 
			  25-34 1,715 1,526 30.67 
			  35-44 997 887 17.83 
			  45-54 440 392 7.87 
			  55-64 95 85 1.70 
			  Over 65 25 22 0.45 
			 Total Oriental — 5,592 4,977 — 
			 3 profiles with the oriental ethnic appearance code had a unknown age on load 
		
	
	
		
			  Ethnic appearance  Age range  Number of profiles  Number of individuals using 11%  Percentage 
			  White Skinned European Under 14 77,083 68,604 12.05 
			  15-24 258,225 229,820 40.36 
			  25-34 137,522 122,395 21.49 
			  35-44 105,625 94,006 16.51 
			  45-54 43,349 38,581 6.78 
			  55-64 14,406 12,821 2.25 
			  Over 65 3,618 3,220 0.57 
			 Total White Skinned European — 639,828 569,447 — 
			 1,091 profiles with the white skinned European ethnic appearance code had a unknown age on load

Drug-related Crime

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of all offences committed were drug offences in  (a) Cornwall,  (b) the South West and  (c) England were drug offences in each year since 1995; and how many such offences were recorded in each area in each year.

Vernon Coaker: The available information is given in the following table.
	
		
			  Drug offences as a proportion of recorded crime 
			   Cornwall  South west region  England 
			   Drug offences  Percentage recorded crime  Drug offences  Percentage recorded crime  Drug offences  Percentage recorded crime 
			 1995 n/a n/a 1,938 0.5 19,750 0.4 
			 1996 n/a n/a 1,842 0.5 20,596 0.4 
			 1997 n/a n/a 1,705 0.5 21,627 0.5 
			 1998-99 n/a n/a 9,471 2.4 126,196 2.6 
			 1999-2000 n/a n/a 9,637 2.4 113,346 2.2 
			 2000-01 n/a n/a 8,922 2.3 105,107 2.1 
			 2001-02 1,287 4.4 9,628 2.3 111,968 2.1 
			 2002-03 1,303 3.4 10,404 2.2 133,055 2.3 
			 2003-04 1,363 3.6 10,997 2.4 134,002 2.3 
			 2004-05 1,127 3.0 10,956 2.5 136,348 2.5 
			 2005-06 1,130 3.3 13,184 3.0 168,992 3.2 
			  Notes: 1. Prior to April 1998, 'trafficking in controlled drugs' was the only drug offence included in the recorded crime series. 2. Data for drug offences by Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships were not available prior to 2001-02. 3. The introduction of the revised counting rules in April 1998 expanded offence coverage. This included the addition of 'possession of controlled drugs' and 'other drug offences'. These data are not comparable with earlier years. 4. Numbers on recorded crime were affected by changes in reporting and recording following the introduction of the National Crime Recording Standard in April 2002. These data are not comparable with earlier years.

Home Office Notices

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will place in the Library a copy of each  (a) White and  (b) Green Home Office Notice published since 1 April.

John Reid: HONS are electronic documents published on our internal staff website.
	Copies of those published 1 April to 4 December will be placed in the Library as requested.

Human Trafficking

Margaret Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many  (a) notifications,  (b) prosecutions and  (c) convictions there were of cases involving people trafficking in each police authority in England and Wales in each of the last five years.

Vernon Coaker: The information for the number of notifications and prosecutions is not held. However following the commencement of dedicated trafficking offences in 2004 the number of convictions in each police authority in England and Wales is as follows:
	
		
			  Police authority  Number of convictions 
			  London Metropolitan  
			 2004 1 
			 2005 11 
			 2006 0 
			  South Yorkshire  
			 2004 2 
			 2005 5 
			 2006 0 
			  West Yorkshire  
			 2004 0 
			 2005 1 
			 2006 0 
			  South Wales  
			 2004 0 
			 2005 2 
			 2006 0 
			  Leicestershire  
			 2004 0 
			 2005 2 
			 2006 0 
			  West Midlands  
			 2004 0 
			 2005 0 
			 2006 3 
			  Kent  
			 2004 0 
			 2005 3 
			 2006 0 
		
	
	Operation Pentameter, a multi-agency initiative aimed at tackling the trafficking of human beings for sexual exploitation was recently co-ordinated across the whole of the UK. All 55 police forces and a number of NGOs were involved. 84 victims of trafficking were rescued during the operation. This operation will result in an increase in the number of convictions when they go to court.

Identity and Passport Service

Mark Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what foreign visits have been undertaken by the Identity and Passport Service staff on official business in the last 12 months; what the total cost was of each visit; and how much of that sum was accounted for by  (a) travel expenses,  (b) expenses claimed and  (c) accommodation in each case.

Joan Ryan: Separate details of all foreign visits are not held centrally within the Identity and Passport Service. However within the last 12 months the total cost of foreign trips can be broken down as follows:
	
		
			   £ 
			 Cost of travel 21,475 
			 Expenses 4,918 
			 Hotels 8,446 
			 Total 34,839

Identity and Passport Service

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the cost of replacing an identity card if  (a) it is lost or stolen and  (b) an individual's relevant information changes.

John Reid: The Government have indicated in Parliament that they anticipate that changes to information on a person's record on the national identity register that would not require a change of card (e.g. address) would not incur a fee.
	With regard to other changes of information that do involve a change of card, a schedule of fees has not yet been decided and will depend on the outcome of procurement processes related to the national identity scheme. Fees will be set out in regulations under section 35 of the Identity Cards Act 2006. It is likely that a charge will be made to replace lost and stolen cards, as is the case with passports.

Identity and Passport Service

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he expects UK citizens to be charged for  (a) changing their (i) PIN and (ii) passcode to facilitate the provision of information held on the National Identity Register and  (b) registering a change of address on the Register.

John Reid: The Government have indicated in Parliament that they anticipate that changes to information on a person's record on the National Identity Register that would not require a change of card (e.g. address) would not incur a fee. It is likely that changes to PINs et cetera would also fall into this category.

Identity and Passport Service

Mark Francois: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether data from the National Identity Register may be shared with private-sector organisations.

Joan Ryan: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer given to the hon. Member for Fareham (Mr. Hoban) on 4 December 2006,  Official Report, column 147W.

Identity and Passport Service

Mark Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many useable blank pages there were in each new version of the standard passport introduced since 1997.

Joan Ryan: Since 1997, the Identity and Passport Service (formerly the United Kingdom Passport Service) has introduced two new passport designs. The first, introduced in 1998, contained 27 pages that were useable for visas and endorsements. This year we introduced the e-passport which has 25 useable pages. The number of pages has been reduced because of the need to improve the clarity of the 'Notes' to assist the visually impaired plus the requirement to cater for additional languages following the expansion of the European Union and the decision to include the Welsh and Scottish Gaelic languages.

Identity and Passport Service

Mark Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many jumbo 48-page passports were issued in each of the last five years for which figures are available.

Joan Ryan: The number of jumbo 48-page passports issued in each of the last five years are as follows:
	
		
			   Number 
			 2002 32,609 
			 2003 37,635 
			 2004 45,031 
			 2005 50,540 
			 2006 (1)36,666 
			 (1) The figures for 2006 are until the end of September 2006.

Identity and Passport Service

Mark Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many officials were employed by the Identity and Passport Service and its predecessors in the processing of  (a) standard and  (b) jumbo passport applications and the issue of those passports in each of the last nine years for which figures are available.

Joan Ryan: It is not possible to provide specific information to this level of detail, however I can confirm that the breakdown of standard and jumbo passports over the last five years is as follows:
	
		
			   Standard  Jumbo 
			 2002 4,944,941 32,609 
			 2003 5,441,661 37,635 
			 2004 6,030,404 45,031 
			 2005 6,691,048 50,540 
			 2006(1) 5,984,842 36,666 
			 (1)The figures for 2006 are until the end of September 2006 
		
	
	In addition the total number of staff employed at peak period for each of the last five years is as follows:
	
		
			   Staff 
			 2002 2,825 
			 2003 2,890 
			 2004 3,303 
			 2005 3,739 
			 2006(1) 3,850 
			 (1)The figures for 2006 are until the end of September 2006.)

Identity and Passport Service

Mark Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his Department continues to issue jumbo 48-page passports.

Joan Ryan: Provision of the jumbo 48-page passport was withdrawn on 18 September 2006 and at present only 32-page biometric passports are available. The 48-page book was withdrawn so that the Identity and Passport Service could safely move from digital to biometric passports and meet the US visa waiver deadline of 26 October for full production of 32-page biometric books. A date has yet to be set as to when the 48-page passport may be reintroduced; this will potentially be spring 2007.

Identity and Passport Service

David Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many passport applications there were in each of the last five years.

Joan Ryan: The number of passport applications received by the Identity and Passport Service (formerly UKPS) in each of the last five calendar years are as follows:
	
		
			   Number 
			 2001 5,692,000 
			 2002 5,570,000 
			 2003 5,635,000 
			 2004 6,134,000 
			 2005 6,539,000

Pornographic Websites

Brian Iddon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether the Obscene Publications Act 1959 applies to internet websites offering pornographic material, with particular reference to child protection on the internet; and if he will make a statement.

Vernon Coaker: The Obscene Publications Act 1959 applies to all published material whether on the internet or offline. Material is published if it is circulated, distributed, sold, given, lent or offered to another person. It will be deemed to be obscene if the court finds that its effect is such as to tend to deprave and corrupt persons who are likely to read, see or hear it.
	EWCA crim 747) which indicated that where children are likely to access material of a degree of sexual explicitness equivalent to what is available to those aged 18 and above in a licensed sex shop, that material may be considered to be obscene and subject to prosecution. This applies to material which is not behind a suitable payment barrier or other accepted means of age verification, for example, material on the front page of pornography websites and non-commercial, user-generated material which is likely to be accessed by children and meets the threshold.

Prison Service Recruitment and Retention

Michael Clapham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what evidence underlay the decision by HM Prison Service to provide industrial and agricultural grades with a £350 recruitment and retention payment; and what assessment he has made of the likely impact of the payment on recruitment and retention.

Gerry Sutcliffe: Following identified concerns from managers, a recruitment and retention allowancefor specified trades was introduced in 2005. While establishments have stated that recruitment and retention problems have eased in targeted trades, a reduced allowance of £350 for 2006 is still required to maintain progress. Further review and impact assessment will be undertaken as part of the current Job Evaluation project.

Schengen Information System II

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the proposed EU legislation for the Schengen Information System II additional acquis; and what its legal base is.

Joan Ryan: The second generation Schengen Information System, SIS II will enable extension of an enhanced system with new functions to at least 30 member states. The legal base for SIS II consists of three draft legal instruments:
	A Regulation of the Parliament and the Council based on Articles 62(2)(a), 63(3)(b) and 66 of the treaty establishing the European Community (TEC), covering alerts on third country nationals for the purpose of refusing entry and stay. The UK will not participate in this Regulation.
	A Council Decision based on Articles 31(1)(a) and (b) and 34(2)(c) of the treaty on European Union, covering alerts on persons wanted for arrest for surrender or extradition purposes; missing persons; persons sought in order to assist with a judicial procedure; persons and objects for discreet checks or specific checks; and objects for seizure or use as evidence in criminal proceedings. The UK will participate in this Decision.
	A Regulation of the Parliament and the Council based on Article 71 TEC, regarding access by the services in the member states responsible for issuing vehicle registration certificates. The UK will participate in this Regulation.
	The European Parliament adopted the draft legal instruments at first reading in October 2006. The Finnish presidency of the EU hopes that the two Regulations will be formally adopted as an "A" point at a Council before the end of December, and that the Council Decision will be formally adopted early in January 2007.

WORK AND PENSIONS

Basic State Pension

David Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the  (a) fraud and  (b) error rate was in the administration of the basic state pension in each of the last five years; how many basic state pension claimants were asked to make repayments in each year; what the total amount of overpaid state pensions repaid was in each year; and what the average amount of basic pension overpayed to claimants was in each year.

James Plaskitt: The number of state pension customers who were asked to make repayments in each year is not available. The available information is in the following tables.
	
		
			  Table 1: Estimates of state pension overpaid 
			  April to March each year  Fraud  Customer error  Official error  Total 
			  2001-02 
			 Percentage of benefit overpaid 0.0 0.1 0.1 0.2 
			 Overpaid (£ million) 0 30 40 70 
			  
			  2002-03 
			 Percentage of benefit overpaid 0.0 0.1 0.0 0.1 
			 Overpaid (£ million) 0 40 10 50 
			  
			  2003-04 
			 Percentage of benefit overpaid 0.0 0.1 0.1 0.1 
			 Overpaid (£ million) 0 40 20 60 
			  
			  2004-05 
			 Percentage of benefit overpaid 0.0 0.1 0.1 0.1 
			 Overpaid (£ million) 0 40 30 70 
			  
			  2005-06 
			 Percentage of benefit overpaid 0.0 0.1 0.1 0.1 
			 Overpaid (£ million) 0 40 30 70 
			  Notes: The estimated amounts of state pension overpaid in each of the last five years are set out in Table 1. As state pension is not reviewed every year, the estimates provided are calculated as follows: 1. Fraud and customer error estimates are calculated by applying percentages from the 2006 state pension pilot National Benefit Review to expenditure for previous years. 2. The official error estimates are produced from the continuous official error measurement in the relevant year. 
		
	
	
		
			  Table 2: Amount of state pension repaid in each of the last five years 
			   Recovered (£ million) 
			 2001-02 16.1 
			 2002-03 15.0 
			 2003-04 15.1 
			 2004-05 17.0 
			 2005-06 16.2 
			  Note: A direct comparison with the figures in Table 1 is inappropriate. This is because the data in Table 1 are obtained from sampling exercises which are then assumed to apply to the total number of state pension cases. In contrast, the figures in this table relate to actual amounts repaid. 
		
	
	
		
			  Table 3: Average amount of state pension overpaid to individual customers who have been overpaid 
			   Average amount overpaid (£) 
			 2001-02 409 
			 2002-03 399 
			 2003-04 417 
			 2004-05 367 
			 2005-06 213

Bereavement Benefit

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the cost of bereavement benefit was in the last 12 months; and if he will make a statement.

James Plaskitt: The gross cost of bereavement benefits in the last 12 months was £838 million.
	 Notes:
	1. The quoted figure has been extracted from the Department's accounting systems and relates to a 12 month period ending October 2006.
	2. The figure is gross expenditure and does not take account of any benefit recoveries or accounting adjustments, and is not audited.
	3. The impact of any resulting adjustments is historically small.
	4. DWP benefit expenditure tables can be viewed at the following website: http://www.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd4/expenditure.asp.

Departmental Mail

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what percentage of his Department's mail is shipped using private companies; and what the cost has been over the last 12 months.

Anne McGuire: The percentage of mail shipped using private companies is 11 per cent. This is made up of8 per cent. via a courier contract and 3 per cent. via alternative mail providers. The total expenditure was £7.9 million.

Pension Credit

Karen Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many  (a) single pensioners and  (b) pensioner couples received (i) pension credit in 2006-07 and (ii) income support in 1997-98 in each ward in the London boroughs of Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea; and what the average payment was in each case.

James Purnell: The number of single pensioners and pensioner couples receiving pension credit in 2006-07 for each ward in the London boroughs of Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea is in Tables 1 and 2. The earliest year for which we are able to provide information on the number of single pensioners and pensioner couples by ward is 1999. This information for the minimum income guarantee, which replaced income support for pensioners in May 1999 is provided in Tables 3 and 4. Table 5 contains the total numberof single pensioners and pensioner couples in receipt of income support in the London boroughs of Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea in 1997-8.
	
		
			  Table 1: Pensioner couples and single pensioners in receipt of pension credit and average weekly payments of benefit for wards in Westminster, May 2006. 
			   Number  Average weekly payments (£) 
			  Ward name  Pensioner couples  Single pensioners  Pensioner couples  Single pensioners 
			 Abbey Road 45 265 119.93 69.74 
			 Bayswater 50 260 114.18 74.38 
			 Bryanston and Dorset Square 30 215 98.28 78.17 
			 Churchill 75 365 87.39 62.18 
			 Church Street 175 675 100.85 73.77 
			 Harrow Road 95 535 107.37 66.75 
			 Hyde Park 45 280 131.93 82.08 
			 Knightsbridge and Belgravia — 35 — 77.00 
			 Lancaster Gate 40 325 122.98 76.30 
			 Little Venice 60 285 99.17 79.63 
			 Maida Vale 65 325 85.35 65.67 
			 Marylebone High Street 35 200 83.66 62.47 
			 Queen's Park 175 545 100.20 66.04 
			 Regent's Park 70 505 120.24 75.79 
			 St. James's 20 325 97.39 60.16 
			 Tachbrook 45 365 74.11 57.34 
			 Vincent Square 40 335 80.66 66.31 
			 Warwick 40 270 87.26 70.36 
			 Westbourne 115 595 99.71 68.01 
			 West End 30 250 77.11 72.90 
			 Westminster local authority total 1,260 6,960 100.10 69.90 
		
	
	
		
			  Table 2: Pensioner couples and single pensioners in receipt of pension credit and average weekly payments of benefit for wards in Kensington and Chelsea, May 2006. 
			   Number  Average weekly payments (£) 
			  Ward name  Pensioner couples  Single pensioners  Pensioner couples  Single pensioners 
			 Abingdon 30 190 111.34 74.60 
			 Brompton — 150 — 72.66 
			 Campden 15 125 134.22 71.56 
			 Colville 45 395 86.38 69.81 
			 Courtfield — 150 — 67.27 
			 Cremorne 75 440 93.15 66.71 
			 Earl's Court 30 350 112.27 74.62 
			 Golborne 120 505 86.30 68.52 
			 Hans Town 30 205 83.80 64.17 
			 Holland 25 155 128.76 79.73 
			 Norland 60 400 85.26 69.05 
			 Notting Barns 125 465 91.98 70.29 
			 Pembridge 20 195 114.57 69.42 
			 Queen's Gate 15 100 130.39 78.93 
			 Redcliffe 30 220 94.21 68.73 
			 Royal Hospital 20 250 86.95 50.94 
			 St. Charles 85 510 98.35 61.90 
			 Stanley 20 205 92.38 60.48 
			 Kensington and Chelsea 
			 Local authority total 770 5,010 95.84 67.96 
		
	
	
		
			  Table 3: Pensioner couples and single pensioners in receipt of minimum income guarantee and average weekly payments of benefit for wards in Westminster, August 1999. 
			   Number  Average weekly payments (£) 
			  Ward name  Pensioner couples  Single pensioners  Pensioner couples  Single pensioners 
			 Abbey Road 20 180 74.64 53.46 
			 Bayswater 25 225 98.31 58.16 
			 Bryanston and Dorset 20 145 68.39 61.70 
			 Square 
			 Churchill 40 260 84.64 41.09 
			 Church Street 105 460 84.50 46.56 
			 Harrow Road 60 380 89.83 48.77 
			 Hyde Park 25 165 106.07 58.43 
			 Knightsbridge and Belgravia 5 30 105.03 62.04 
			 Lancaster Gate 30 225 83.58 54.16 
			 Little Venice 35 195 94.37 55.31 
			 Maida Vale 50 210 79.70 43.20 
			 Marylebone High Street 20 150 80.66 48.12 
			 Queen's Park 115 340 84.96 45.29 
			 Regent's Park 45 355 104.91 50.82 
			 St. James's 20 185 81.13 48.03 
			 Tachbrook 20 245 58.09 41.49 
			 Vincent Square 20 220 85.30 54.84 
			 Warwick 30 180 72.59 44.43 
			 Westbourne 70 395 78.94 60.02 
			 West End 20 170 81.39 48.75 
			 Westminster local authority total 780 4710 84.95 50.39 
		
	
	
		
			  Table 4: Pensioner couples and single pensioners in receipt of minimum income guarantee and average weekly payments of benefit for wards in Kensington and Chelsea, August 1999. 
			   Number  Average weekly payments (£) 
			  Ward name  Pensioner couples  Single pensioners  Pensioner couples  Single pensioners 
			 Abingdon 15 100 118.88 52.15 
			 Brompton 10 95 77.80 50.47 
			 Campden 10 75 93.18 60.67 
			 Colville 40 285 62.84 50.64 
			 Courtfield 5 90 34.48 54.64 
			 Cremorne 45 280 69.23 42.30 
			 Earl's Court 20 225 89.91 56.72 
			 Golborne 70 325 69.85 50.98 
			 Hans Town 20 135 81.03 40.96 
			 Holland 20 95 100.35 64.89 
			 Norland 30 250 69.33 45.98 
			 Netting Barns 80 290 78.32 45.25 
			 Pembridge 10 145 100.31 58.27 
			 Queen's Gate 10 85 133.35 98.39 
			 Redcliffe 10 145 126.88 48.97 
			 Royal Hospital 5 135 67.02 52.73 
			 St. Charles 50 325 69.40 48.23 
			 Stanley 10 120 76.61 47.67 
			 Kensington and Chelsea local authority total 460 3200 78.28 51.17 
			  Notes:  1. Caseloads are rounded to a multiple of five, average weekly payments to the nearest penny, therefore ward totals will not always sum to area totals.  2. Some figures in the London borough of Westminster have been suppressed due to there being less than 10 claimants within those wards. Suppressed figures marked'—'.  3. Wards are based on 2003 ward boundaries.   Source:  DWP: Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study 100 per cent data. 
		
	
	
		
			  Table 5: Pensioner couples and single pensioners in receipt of income support and average weekly payments of benefit for the London boroughs of Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea, August 1997 
			   Number (Thousand)  Average weekly payments (£) 
			  London borough  Pensioner couples  Single pensioners  Pensioner couples  Single pensioners 
			 Westminster 1.0 5.3 80.17 46.14 
			 Kensington and Chelsea 0.4* 3.5 58.77 48.14 
			  Notes: 1. Figures relate to claimants aged 60 and over.  2. Figures are subject to a high degree of sampling error and should only be used as a guide. Particular care should be taken with those numbers marked *.  3. Figures have been derived by applying five per cent proportions to 100 per cent. WPLS totals.  4. Caseloads are rounded to the nearest hundred and displayed in thousands. 5. Average weekly payments are rounded to the nearest penny.   Source: DWP Information Directorate five per cent, sample August 1997

Road Safety

David Kidney: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what his Department's assessment is of the use by employers of the Health and Safety Executive and Department of Transport guidance on Driving While at Work published in September 2003.

Anne McGuire: No formal assessment has been undertaken of the use made by employers of "Driving at Work".
	The Health and Safety Executive and the Department for Transport (DfT) are working together on a number of projects aimed at promoting the benefits of managing work-related road safety. As part of this work, DfT plans to evaluate the effectiveness of available guidance material.

Social Fund

John Battle: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many Social Fund loans were  (a) paid back in full and  (b) were not paid in full in each of the last 10 years; and what the total value of unpaid loans was in each year.

James Plaskitt: The available information is in the tables.
	
		
			  Number of loans paid back in full 
			  Thousand 
			   Budgeting loans  Crisis loans  Total 
			 1999-2000 933 792 1,725 
			 2000-01 1,094 826 1,919 
			 2001-02 1,164 823 1,987 
			 2002-03 1,173 795 1,967 
			 2003-04 1,194 821 2,015 
			 2004-05 1,192 874 2,066 
			 2005-06 1,140 893 2,033 
			  Notes: 1. The table gives the number of loans where full payment was completed in the given year, although the loan may have been taken out in an earlier year. 2 Figures may not sum due to rounding.  Source:  Analysis of age-of-debt scans (loans recorded on the Social Fund computer system) 
		
	
	
		
			  Value of outstanding debt at 31 March 
			  £ million 
			   Budgeting loans  Crisis loans  Total 
			 1997 291 78 369 
			 1998 319 80 399 
			 1999 355 87 442 
			 2000 377 95 472 
			 2001 391 105 496 
			 2002 414 122 537 
			 2003 416 145 561 
			 2004 434 164 598 
			 2005 452 178 630 
			 2006 492 192 684 
			  Notes: 1. The majority of outstanding Social Fund debt is owed by debtors who are repaying their debt. 2. Figures may not sum due to rounding. 3. If a Social Fund loan has not yet been repaid in full, it may still be repaid in full at a later date. If a debtor is in receipt of benefit, a Social Fund loan is normally repaid by automatic deductions from that benefit. If a debtor leaves benefit, the Social Fund loan is normally transferred to DWP Debt Management to pursue recovery. Social Fund loans are rarely written off. 4. The final gross loans budget has usually increased from year to year.  Source: Social Fund White Paper Accounts

Social Fund

John Battle: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what was the average Social Fund  (a) loan and  (b) grant payment was in each year since the Social Fund began.

James Plaskitt: The available information is in the table.
	
		
			  Average initial social fund award 
			  £ 
			   Budgeting loan  Crisis loan  Community care grant 
			 1995-96 253 64 275 
			 1996-97 289 64 307 
			 1997-98 319 64 327 
			 1998-99 350 64 343 
			 1999-2000 381 62 343 
			 2000-01 375 66 338 
			 2001-02 375 71 338 
			 2002-03 366 75 342 
			 2003-04 384 77 364 
			 2004-05 405 78 390 
			 2005-06 423 81 406 
			  Note: Figures do not include awards made after review.  Source: DWP Social Fund Policy, Budget and Management Information System (except that the numbers of initial awards for 1999-2000 are taken from a scan of the social fund computer system, as data are unavailable from the usual source).

Social Fund

John Battle: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many individual loans were made by the Social Fund in each year since its inception.

James Plaskitt: The information is in the table.
	
		
			  Number of initial Social Fund loans 
			   Thousand 
			 1988-89 884 
			 1989-90 1,029 
			 1990-91 1,100 
			 1991-92 1,303 
			 1992-93 1,472 
			 1993-94 1,553 
			 1994-95 1,619 
			 1995-96 1,753 
			 1996-97 1,688 
			 1997-98 1,719 
			 1998-99 1,801 
			 1999-2000 1,956 
			 2000-01 2,075 
			 2001-02 2,231 
			 2002-03 2,315 
			 2003-04 2,309 
			 2004-05 2,200 
			 2005-06 2,233 
			  Note: Figures do not include awards made after review.  Source: Secretary of State's annual reports on the Social Fund. 
		
	
	The number of initial budgeting loan and crisis loan awards for a particular year are included in the Secretary of State's annual report on the Social Fund. The most recent for 2005-06 can be seen on the DWP website at http://www.dwp.gov.uk/publications/dwp/2006/annual-report-social-fund.pdf

Social Fund

John Battle: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many applications to the Social Fund were refused in each of the last 10 years.

James Plaskitt: The information requested is in the table.
	
		
			  Social Fund applications initially refused 
			   Total (Thousand) 
			 1996-97 1,748 
			 1997-98 1,759 
			 1998-99 1,699 
			 1999-2000 1,469 
			 2000-01 1,295 
			 2001-02 1,193 
			 2002-03 1,206 
			 2003-04 1,183 
			 2004-05 1,109 
			 2005-06 1,112 
			  Note: The total includes refusals for maternity payment, sure start maternity grant, funeral payment, community care grant, budgeting loan and crisis loan.  Source: Secretary of State's annual reports on the Social Fund.

Social Fund

John Battle: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the average length of repayment was for the term of a Social Fund loan in each of the last 10 years.

James Plaskitt: The information is not available.

COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Departmental Energy Consumption

Brian Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether she plans to make her Department carbon neutral.

Angela Smith: On 12 June 2007 my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister and my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs announced new sustainable operations targets for the Government Estate. The new targets include a commitment for a carbon neutral central Government office estate by 2012 and to reduce carbon emissions from offices by 30 per cent. by 2020.

Departmental Estate

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what payment her Department plans to make to the Cabinet Office for her Department's use of the Ripley Building in  (a) 2005-06,  (b) 2006-07 and  (c) 2007-08.

Angela Smith: Communities and Local Government occupied part of 26 Whitehall during the whole of the financial year 2005-06, and from 1 April 2006 until 31 October 2006. The payment made to the Cabinet Office for 2005-06 was £2,125,000 and for 2006-07 was £908,434. No payments are expected to be made for 2007-08, as Communities and Local Government is not making use of 26 Whitehall.
	The £908,434 also reflects a reduction in the space occupied during the period 1 April to 31 October 2006.

Departmental Staff

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many full-time equivalent staff from her Department provide assistance to the Deputy Prime Minister's Office.

Angela Smith: I refer the hon. Lady to the answer given by my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister on 9 October 2006,  Official Report, column 72W.

Green Belt

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many hectares of green belt land had green belt designation removed in each year since 1997-98.

Yvette Cooper: The total area of land designated as green belt in England for each year since 1997-98 for which data are available is presented in the following table.
	
		
			   Area (hectares) 
			 1997 1,652,300 
			 2003 1,671,400 
			 2004 1,678,200 
			  Source: DCLG Statistical Releases: Green Belt Statistics, England. 
		
	
	Information on the number of hectares of green belt land that had green belt designation removed in each year since 1997-98 is not held centrally. This information can be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Housing

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps she is taking to encourage the development of more family homes rather than flats.

Yvette Cooper: Planning Policy Statement (PPS3) "Housing", published on 29 November, places a new emphasis on family homes. For the first time the planning system will be required to consider the housing needs of children, including gardens, play areas and green spaces. Local planning authorities will have more ability to promote mixed communities and to ensure larger homes are being developed alongside flats and smaller homes.

Housing

Howard Stoate: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many new housing developments in England were inspected by  (a) local authority building control officers and  (b) private sector approved inspectors in each of the last10 years.

Angela Smith: All new housing developments are subject to building control but, as a fully devolved service under the Building Act 1984, no central records are kept of building control inspections by either local authorities or approved inspectors. This avoids imposing undue information burdens on local authorities.

Housing

Howard Stoate: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what methods her Department uses to monitor the quality of the building inspections carried out by  (a) local authority building control officers and  (b) private sector approved inspectors.

Angela Smith: As building control is a fully devolved service under the Building Act 1984, the Department for Communities and Local Government does not formally monitor the quality of building inspections. However, the Department has supported work by the building control industry to update the Building Control Performance Standards Handbook and the introduction of associated performance indicators, both launched in June 2006.

Housing

John Pugh: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment she has made of the extent to which the allocation of responsibility for electrical ducting and cabling between individual meter boards and substations in large blocks of flats is correctly understood by flat tenants, leaseholders and owners.

Yvette Cooper: No assessment has been made.

Office for Disability Issues

Jeremy Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many times the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Women and Equality has attended meetings of the Office for Disability Issues since its establishment.

Meg Munn: I attended two meetings of the ministerial group overseeing the Office for Disability Issues. Communities and Local Government Ministers, or their predecessors from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, have attended six of the eight meetings of this group held to date.

PFI

Mark Francois: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the capital value is of each private finance initiative scheme overseen by her Department which has reached financial close; and what the  (a) cost and  (b) period of repayment will be for each service.

Phil Woolas: Details of the private finance initiative schemes overseen by the Department for Communities and Local Government are outlined on the following table. The unitary charge figures quoted are an estimate only and represent the projection of payments which are not just repayments for the capital value (sum of capital spend) of each project. Unitary Charge payments will frequently include; inflation, service provision, maintenance, capital repayments and lifecycle costs.
	The contract length for the stated projects will vary from anything between 10 years and up to 30 years. The repayment term takes place within the term of each contract but this can vary from project to project as repayments are only made when projects become operational. Information on the period of repayments for each project is not held centrally and obtaining this information will incur disproportionate costs.
	
		
			  DCLG sector  Commissioning body  Project name  Total capital value  (£ million)  Total estimated unitary charge  (£ million)  Details 
			  Housing NE Derbyshire district council Holmwood Project 1.80 0.75 51 units of social rented housing (13x2 bed bungalows, 8x2 bed flats and 30x1 bed flats) new build 
			  Derby council Inner City Regeneration 9.91 12.96 Acquisition and renovation of 150 vacant (3 months minimum) and unfit (under S.604 Housing Act 1985) properties within a defined area of the inner city and let as social housing for rent. 
			  Manchester city council Manchester Domestic Energy Services 2.80 10.30 Provision of heating service to 420 flats in six multi-storey blocks. Two boiler houses and hot water heating system within the blocks of flats. 
			  LB Islington Street Properties 1 89.00 256.88 Refurbishment and modernisation of 1 ,900 dwellings in 1 ,000 Victorian Street Properties. Partners for Improvement. 
			  Manchester city council Ardwick HRA PFI 30.80 153.36 The provision of management and maintenance services to, and the carrying out of refurbishment of, the council's housing estate at Plymouth Grove, Stockport Road, Longsight, Manchester, together with the undertaking of associated development of new build homes, commercial and community facilities 
			  Selby district council Selby, Sherburn and Tadcaster PFI 15.00 20.42 To provide 200 units of social housing across the district. Preferred bidder is South Yorkshire Housing Association. 
			  LB Hammersmith & Fulham Future Services for Older People 2.33 0.12 This is a joined up housing and social services PFI project to provide a range of services for older people, also funded by DoH. 
			  Reading borough council North Whitley 60.00 196.56 Refurbishment and a degree of remodelling on an estate of mainly pre-war home 
			  Warrington borough council Anson and Blenheim Close 20.00 7.65 The project involves the redevelopment and regeneration of part of the Blackbrook Estate. 
			  LB Newham Canning Town 41.00 178.64 The scheme features a modernisation programme and facilities management for a mix of dwelling types. 
			  Leeds city council Leeds Swarcliffe 113.00 260.33 The scheme will encompass selective demolition and tenure diversification (not funded via PFI credits), as well as refurbishment and ongoing repair and maintenance of remaining council housing. 
			  Coventry council New Homes for Old PFI Scheme 21.80 209.17 Provision of two Specialist Dementia Residential units (total of 80 beds, including 10 respite beds) and three Housing with Care units (comprising 120 tenancies)—the contractor will provide all personal support and soft FM services 
			  LB Camden Chalcots Estate (Camden) PFI Project 66.40 144.44 The refurbishment and maintenance of certain dwellings and properties on the Chalcots Estate in the London borough of Camden for the Mayor and Burgesses of the London borough of Camden 
			  LB Islington Street Properties II 151.00 456.13 The management, catch-up repair and maintenance of 3,014 properties 
			  Sandwell council Hawthorn Fields 61.00 200.57 This scheme covers 1,600 units in two estates and involves the refurbishment of a mixture of dwelling types in an area of high social housing demand. The scheme includes a limited level of redevelopment through selective demolition and rebuild (not funded via PFI credits). 
			   
			  Fire PFI Avon, Somerset and Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Authorities Fire Training Facility 16.90 72.57 DBFO of a fire service training facility for Somerset, Avon and Gloucestershire Fire Authorities. Being built on Smoke Lane! 
			  Cornwall county council Cornwall Fire Stations 12.26 51.71 Estates and facilities management of 31 operational fire stations in the county including rebuilding 10 stations and refurbishing 21 stations. 
			  London Fire Authority Vehicle and Equip 45.00 340.50 Vehicle and Equipment 
			  North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service Fire Training Facility and Fire Station 6.36 30.41 New fire station and fire training centre 
			  Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service Divisional HQ and 2 fire stations 5.56 21.14 Divisional headquarters and replacement fire stations at Hyndburn and Morecambe. 
			  Greater Manchester County Fire Service Stretford Divisional Headquarters and Fire Station 4.79 22.57 Stretford divisional headquarters and fire station 
			  South Wales PFI Training Centre for South Wales Fire and Rescue Service 7.18 50.32 Training Centre for South Wales Fire and Rescue Service 
			  Tyne and Wear Fire and Civil Defence Authority New HQ and community fire stations 29.14 98.97 Relocation of headquarters and other facilities, replacement of fire stations (including Fossway incorporating a community fire safety centre) and contract management of the estate. 
			   
			  DCLG Other LB Lambeth Depot services 9.63 14.40 Depot Services 
			  LB Islington Depot services 23.37 94.20 Depot Services 
			  Norfolk county council Salt barns 1.30 4.00 Salt Barns 
			  LB Harrow IT (Revenues & Benefits) 0.85 2.40 Revenue Benefits IT Scheme 
			  Derby city council IT (Revenues & Benefits) 7.50 5.12 Strategic IT 
			  Kent county council Strategic ICT 12.60 26.30 ICT Network 
			  Norwich city council Norwich Connect ICT 21.20 27.20 ICT Network 
			  LB Croydon Customer Focus ICT 11.94 98.80 Community broadband ICT network 
			  Cambridgeshire county council Community ICT Network 28.30 30.66 Provision of new fully serviced council offices including a "one-stop shop" at ground floor level. Part of major "Heart of the City" regeneration. 
			  Sheffield city council Office accommodation 14.40 93.00 "Technology & Learning Centre". The project includes council offices on the upper three floors, together with a library and a museum and space for retail and gym facilities. It also includes a fully serviced IT contract 
			  LB Hackney Technology & Learning Centre 7.60 142.82 New council office 
			  North Wiltshire district council Office accommodation 13.72 38.00 Two new council offices, plus a business centre with 39 office units and 16 workshop units. 
			  Redcar & Cleveland borough council Office accommodation 8.12 50.01 New council office, shared with DWP. 
			  Copeland borough council Office accommodation 16.40 24.86 Provision and maintenance of a high quality new Civic Centre consisting of council accommodation, community facilities & car park 
			  Trafford metropolitan borough council Civic Centre office accommodation Total = 10.142 DCLG = 6.942 3.47 Joint project with DCMS, DfES & ODPM-Housing. Project description: Community Learning Resources Centre 
			  Bolton metropolitan borough council Community Learning Resource Centre & Primary School 13.68 33.05 Relocation of council offices 
			  Stoke-on-Trent city council Bentilee District Joint Service Centre 1.60 49.70 First of 5 joint service centres being procured by Newcastle under the Newcastle & N Tyneside LIFT Co. 
			  Newcastle-upon-Tyne city council LIFT Joint Service Centre (Walker & Kenton) 4.00 13.11 Second of 5 joint service centres being procured by Newcastle under the Newcastle & N Tyneside LIFT Co. 
			  Nottingham city council LIFT Joint Service Centre (Clifton & Hyson Green) 3.54 8.61 First of 2 or 3 joint service centres being procured by Nottingham CC— third may or may not be LIFT. 
			  LB Lambeth LIFT Joint Service Centre 4.21 5.95 First of a network of joint service centres—progress on others dependent on land issues. 
			  Brighton and Hove council Schools PFI Project Total = 25.267 DCLG = 0.467 DFES Lead Department Schools PFI 
			  Cheshire county council Ellesmere Port Schools/ Community Facilities Total = 17.20 DCLG = 1.10 DFES Lead Department Joint project with DfES. Project description: Schools PFI with community library element (re: DCLG's interest) 
			  Liverpool city council Speke Learning Centre Total = 20.40 DCLG = 9.60 DFES Lead Department Joint project with DfES. Project description: Schools PFI with community facilities (re: DCLG's interest) 
			  Sunderland city council City Learning Centre Total = 17.744 DCLG = 5.744 DFES Lead Department Learning Centre based around Redeveloped School 
			  LB Tower Hamlets Mulberry Schools & Community Sports Facilities Total = 19.30 DCLG = 1.90 DFES Lead Department Lifelong Learning Centre 
			  Essex county council Clacton JSC Total = 35.70 DCLG = 5.40 DFES Lead Department Schools, Community and Sports Facilities 
			  L B Barking and Dagenham Joint Service Centre Total = 39.760 DCLG = 4.760 DFES Lead Department Joint Service Centre 
			  Oldham metropolitan borough council Library and lifelong learning centre Total = 13.014 DCLG = 7.977 DCMS Lead Department Expansion of existing schools project, linked to DfES extended school initiative 
			  Shropshire county council Community services Total = 20.40 DCLG = 2.280 DoH Lead Department Community Services

Regional Fire Control

David Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the expected date is by which the proposed new regional fire control centres for  (a) London and  (b) England will be fully networked and operational; and if she will make a statement.

Angela Smith: The precise dates depend on which prime contractor is chosen in the infrastructure services procurement for the FiReControl project which is being ran under EU procurement rules. An updated timetable is expected to be published early in the new year once a contract has been awarded. In addition, once the contract has been awarded, we will work with the fire and rescue services to establish a realistic and achievable timetable.

Roads

Anne Snelgrove: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what decision she has reached on the proposal to revoke or modify the proposed route of Croft Road/May Lane link road under section 100 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.

Yvette Cooper: A request to revoke or modify the planning permission for the Croft Road/May Lane link has not been received. If such a request is made we will give it careful consideration.

Sexual Orientation Regulations

Ashok Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government from which organisations  (a) she and  (b) Ministers in her Department have received representations on the Sexual Orientation Regulations.

Meg Munn: The Government received nearly 3,000 responses to the consultation on regulations to outlaw discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation in the provision of goods and services, and both I and my officials have had a number of meetings with organisations and individuals who are interested in the proposed regulations. The Government Response to Consultation will include a list of the non-confidential responses received and a summary of the views expressed in these responses. The Response to Consultation will be published after the Christmas recess, in good time for the laying of the regulations to come into force next April, alongside Part 2 of the Equality Act outlawing discrimination on grounds of religion or belief in the provision of goods and services.

Waste Management

Peter Luff: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will call in for her consideration the application from Severn Waste for the construction and operation of a co-mingled waste recycling plant at Norton in Worcestershire.

Yvette Cooper: holding answer 11 December 2006
	My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State's policy is to be very selective about calling in planning applications. She will, in general, only take this step if planning issues of more than local importance are involved. The application in question is for Worcestershire county council to determine in the first instance as the local planning authority.

Written Questions

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what target her Department has for the maximum acceptable amount of time to answer parliamentary written questions; and what percentage of parliamentary answers met that target in each parliamentary session since 2001.

Angela Smith: Ministers in the Department for Communities and Local Government aim to answer written parliamentary questions within the timescales specified by Parliament which is that named day questions should be answered on the day named, and ordinary written questions within a working week.

Young People's Funds for Amenities

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government which local authorities have set up a young people's fund for amenities and activities run by young people since 2005; and what the value is of each of these funds.

Beverley Hughes: I have been asked to reply.
	The Government do not, in the main, collect specific information on local authority funding for activities run by young people as these initiatives are run at the discretion of local authorities. The Youth Opportunity Fund and the Youth Capital Fund are the exception to this as they are ring fenced outside Local Area Agreements for the period April 2006 to March 2008. I am responding to the question raised from the perspective of the Youth Opportunity Fund (YOF) and the Youth Capital Fund (YCF) which were introduced in April 2006.
	The YOF and the YCF were a Youth Green Paper commitment to young people to give them control and influence over activities and facilities in their local neighbourhood. Central to the conditions for the use of both funds is the role of young people as grant givers and decision makers and as project leaders bidding for funds to spend on activities in their local area.
	Resources of £62 million for 2006-07 and 2007-08 were proposed in the Youth Green Paper for both funds. Additional funding of £53 million was made available through the Chancellor's 2005 pre-Budget report making a total of £115 million over the two years from April 2006.
	
		
			  £ 
			  
			  Local authority  YOF and YCF  YOF  5 per cent. of both with £15,000 floor  Both - (N) 
			 City of London 100,000 50,000 15,000 85,000 
			 Isles of Scilly 100,000 50,000 15,000 85,000 
			 Rutland 100,000 50,000 15,000 85,000 
			 Bracknell Forest 155,000 90,000 15,000 140,000 
			 Poole 155,000 90,000 15,000 140,000 
			 Torbay 155,000 90,000 15,000 140,000 
			 Hartlepool 155,000 90,000 15,000 140,000 
			 Darlington 155,000 90,000 15,000 140,000 
			 Slough 156,359 90,000 15,000 141,359 
			 City of York 159,913 90,000 15,000 144,913 
			 Windsor and Maidenhead 160,905 90,000 15,000 145,905 
			 Kingston Upon Thames 162,201 90,000 15,000 147,201 
			 Isle of Wight 162,267 90,000 15,000 147,267 
			 Bournemouth 162,404 90,000 15,000 147,404 
			 Wokingham 162,721 90,000 15,000 147,721 
			 West Berkshire 165,508 90,000 15,000 150,508 
			 Herefordshire 165,973 90,000 15,000 150,973 
			 Reading 169,120 90,685 15,000 154,120 
			 Thurrock 169,331 90,798 15,000 154,331 
			 Richmond Upon Thames 169,643 90,965 15,000 154,643 
			 Blackpool 174,748 93,703 15,000 159,748 
			 Bath and North East Somerset 174,998 93,837 15,000 159,998 
			 Southend on Sea 175,877 94,308 15,000 160,877 
			 Halton 176,914 94,864 15,000 161,914 
			 North Lincolnshire 179,416 96,206 15,000 164,416 
			 North Somerset 182,095 97,642 15,000 167.095 
			 Bury 186,453 99,979 15,000 171,453 
			 Hammersmith and Fulham 189,114 101,406 15,000 174,114 
			 Warrington 189,829 101,789 15,000 174,829 
			 Blackburn with Darwen 191,193 102,521 15,000 176,193 
			 Telford and Wrekin 192,644 103,299 15,000 177,644 
			 Gateshead 199,906 107,193 15,000 184,906 
			 Trafford 200,753 107,647 15,000 185,753 
			 Redcar and Cleveland 201,450 108,021 15,000 186,450 
			 South Tyneside 206,224 110,581 15,000 191,224 
			 Swindon 207,415 111,219 15,000 192,415 
			 North Tyneside 207,494 111,261 15,000 192,494 
			 Sutton 213,254 114,350 15,000 198,254 
			 Merton 213,390 114,423 15,000 198,390 
			 Harrow 215,625 115,622 15,000 200,625 
			 St. Helens 221,882 118,976 15,000 206,882 
			 Calderdale 227,459 121,967 15,000 212,459 
			 Havering 229,028 122,809 15,000 214,028 
			 City of Peterborough 231,215 123,981 15,000 216,215 
			 Barking and Dagenham 235,799 126,439 15,000 220,799 
			 Portsmouth 237,404 127,300 15,000 222,404 
			 North East Lincolnshire 237,445 127,322 15,000 222,445 
			 Solihull 238,618 127,951 15,000 223,618 
			 Camden 240,689 129,061 15,000 225,689 
			 Luton 243,180 130,397 15,000 228,180 
			 Stockton on Tees 244,234 130,962 15,000 229,234 
			 Kensington and Chelsea 244,731 131,229 15,000 229,731 
			 Milton Keynes 244,766 131,247 15,000 229,766 
			 Redbridge 246,980 132,434 15,000 231,980 
			 Bexley 247,881 132,918 15,000 232,881 
			 South Gloucestershire 247,954 132,957 15,000 232,954 
			 Middlesbrough 249,277 133,666 15,000 234,277 
			 Islington 254,288 136,353 15,000 239,288 
			 Knowsley 257,624 138,142 15,000 242,624 
			 Southampton 258,553 138,641 15,000 243,553 
			 Barnsley 261,047 139,977 15,000 246,047 
			 Brighton and Hove 262,730 140,880 15,000 247,730 
			 Shropshire 268,075 143,746 15,000 253,075 
			 Rochdale 271,047 145,340 15,000 256,047 
			 Hounslow 261,767 145,726 15,000 258,787 
			 Wandsworth 273,110 146,446 15,000 258,110 
			 Medway 280,139 150,215 15,000 265,139 
			 City of Derby 240,478 150,403 15,000 265,489 
			 Tameside 281,457 150,922 15,000 266,457 
			 City of Westminster 293,088 157,158 15,000 278,088 
			 East Riding of Yorks 295,711 158,565 15,000 280,711 
			 Stoke on Trent 296,771 159,133 15,000 281,771 
			 City of Plymouth 297,171 159,348 15,000 282,171 
			 Stockport 298,431 150,023 15,000 283,431 
			 Oldham 299,191 160,431 15,000 284,191 
			 Hackney 300,081 160,908 15,000 285,081 
			 Salford 300,713 161,247 15,000 285,713 
			 Lambeth 307,027 164,633 15,000 292,027 
			 Bromley 310,899 166,709 15,000 295,899 
			 Waltham Forest 322,196 172,766 15,000 307,196 
			 Sefton 322,787 173,084 15,000 307,787 
			 Wolverhampton 327,875 175,812 15,000 312,875 
			 Ealing 328,989 176,409 15,000 313,989 
			 Rotherham 332,305 178,187 15,000 317,305 
			 Brent 332,412 178,245 15,000 317,412 
			 Newcastle upon Tyne 334,792 179,521 15,000 319,792 
			 Northumberland 335,331 179,810 15,000 320,331 
			 Haringey 345,598 185,315 15,000 330,598 
			 Dorset 346,976 186,054 15,000 331,978 
			 Bolton 348,387 186,811 15,000 333,387 
			 Dudley 353,222 189,404 15,000 338,222 
			 Wigan 353,653 189,634 15,000 338,653 
			 Hillingdon 359,899 192,877 15,000 344,699 
			 Enfield 365,068 195,755 15,178 349,890 
			 Wakefield 366,247 196,387 15,227 351,020 
			 Lewisham 368,675 197,690 15,328 353,348 
			 Barnet 372,156 199,556 15,472 356,684 
			 Newham 374,437 200,779 15,567 358,870 
			 Sunderland 374,579 200,855 15,573 359,006 
			 Croydon 387,612 207,844 16,115 371,497 
			 Greenwich 388,812 208,487 16,165 372,647 
			 Doncaster 390,495 209,390 16,235 374,260 
			 Walsall 391,425 209,888 16,273 375,151 
			 Wirral 392,513 210,472 16,319 376,194 
			 Tower Hamlets 395,743 212,204 16,453 379,290 
			 Coventry 399,459 214,196 16,607 382,852 
			 Wiltshire 402,925 216,055 16,752 386,173 
			 Southwark 413,557 221,756 17,194 396,363 
			 City of Hull 416,047 223,091 17,297 398,750 
			 Bedfordshire 423,926 227,316 17,625 406,301 
			 Kirklees 428,162 229,587 17,801 410,361 
			 City of Nottingham 431,464 231,358 17,938 413,526 
			 Buckinghamshire 433,048 232,207 18,004 415,044 
			 Sandwell 438,459 235,109 18,229 420,230 
			 City of Leicester 450,151 241,378 18,715 431,436 
			 Cornwall 477,634 256,115 19,858 457,776 
			 City of Bristol 484,474 259,783 20,142 464,332 
			 Warwickshire 494,870 265,357 20,574 474,296 
			 Somerset 498,999 267,571 20,746 478,253 
			 Cumbria 506,055 271,355 21,039 485,016 
			 East Sussex 509,128 273,003 21,167 487,961 
			 Worcestershire 526,605 282,374 21,894 504,711 
			 North Yorkshire 527,627 282,922 21,936 505.691 
			 Cambridgeshire 535,051 286,903 22,245 512,807 
			 Gloucestershire 543,472 291,418 22,595 520,877 
			 Durham 578,162 310,020 24,037 554,125 
			 Leicestershire 607,705 325,861 25,265 582,440 
			 Sheffield 614,838 329,686 25,562 589,276 
			 Lincolnshire 633,848 339,879 26,352 607,495 
			 Devon 636,531 341,318 26464 610,067 
			 Suffolk 639,338 342,823 26,580 612,757 
			 Cheshire 640,279 343,328 26,620 613,659 
			 Manchester 642,890 34,728 26,728 616,162 
			 Oxfordshire 645,638 346,201 26,842 618,795 
			 Bradford 675,118 362,009 28,068 647,050 
			 Northamptonshire 704,206 377,607 29,277 675,929 
			 West Sussex 725,534 389,043 30,164 695,370 
			 Derbyshire 729,998 391,437 30,350 699,649 
			 Norfolk 788,108 422,596 32,766 755,342 
			 Liverpool 805,079 431,696 33,471 771,608 
			 Staffordshire 841,860 451,419 35,000 806,860 
			 Nottinghamshire 852,781 457,275 35,454 817,327 
			 Leeds 924,863 495,926 38,451 886,412 
			 Surrey 1,096,766 588,104 45,598 1,051,168 
			 Hampshire 1,108,271 594,273 46,076 1,062,194 
			 Hertfordshire 1,112,809 596,706 46,265 1,066,544 
			 Lancashire 1,226,930 657,899 51,010 1,175,920 
			 Essex 1,323,482 709,672 55,024 1,268,458 
			 Kent 1,369,588 734,395 56,941 1,312,647 
			 Birmingham 1,464,197 785,126 60,874 1,403,323 
			 England 57,250,000 30,750,000 2,862,500 54,387,500 
			  Note: £250,000 for each year for the evaluation of YOF and YCF (= £31,000,000 YOF budget)

EDUCATION AND SKILLS

Adult Education

Martin Horwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what his most recent estimate is of the number of adults in the workplace without a first full Level 2 qualification, broken down by  (a) Learning and Skills Council and  (b) local education authority; and if he will make a statement.

Phil Hope: The Department publishes annual figures on Qualifications and Participation in Learning at a local level; the latest version for January-December 2005 can be found at:
	http://www.dfes.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/STA/t000677/index.shtml
	The table on Qualification Attainment of economically active adults includes the number and proportion of adults in the workforce without a Level 2 qualification broken down by LSC and local education authority area.
	Nationally, we are making very good progress towards the Adult Level 2 PSA target. We expect to exceed comfortably the 2006 interim milestone—1 million more adults in the workforce with Level 2 or higher qualifications since 2003—when final Labour Force Survey results for 2006 are published in March 2007.

Apprentices: Darlington

Alan Milburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many apprenticeships there were in Darlington in each of the last five years for which figures are available.

Bill Rammell: Figures for those participating in Apprenticeships (previously called Modern Apprenticeships) funded by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) can be derived from the Individualised Learner Record (ILR). This was collated for the first time in 2001/02 (as an Interim ILR) and consistent and comparable figures are currently only available for the three following years.
	The following table shows the total number of Apprentices in Darlington (based on the home postcode of the learner) for each year from 2002/03 to 2004/05.
	
		
			  Darlington  Advanced apprenticeship  Apprenticeship  Total 
			 2002/03 330 650 980 
			 2003/04 390 750 1,140 
			 2004/05 370 800 1,170 
			  Note:  Figures rounded to nearest 10.

BBC Jam

Edward Vaizey: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills with whom responsibility lies for  (a) setting the conditions for BBC Jam and  (b) monitoring compliance with those conditions; and if he will make a statement.

David Lammy: I have been asked to reply.
	My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State set the conditions for the approval of BBC Jam. The conditions were part of a letter approving the service (at that time known as the Digital Curriculum) from my right hon. Friend to the then Chairman of the BBC, dated 8 January 2003.
	Primary responsibility for ensuring compliance with these conditions currently lies with the Board of Governors. Under the terms of the new Charter, the effect of conditions attached to approvals granted by the Secretary of State must be incorporated into the service licence that the BBC Trust should issue to cover the service. Primary responsibility for ensuring compliance with the licence will rest in future with the BBC Trust.

Child Care

Paul Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many day nurseries have  (a) closed and  (b) opened since 2003.

Beverley Hughes: The available information is shown in the following table.
	
		
			  Table 1: full day care providers 
			   Opened  Closed 
			 2003/04 2,500 1,100 
			 2004/05 2,800 1,800 
			 2005/06 2,300 1,300 
			 March 2006 to September 2006 1,200 710 
			  Source: Data: Ofsted 
		
	
	Ofsted data on closures include registered places in settings which are transferring ownership, and in settings which move from one Ofsted category to another, not just in those which are ceasing trading. For example, if a full day care provider moved to offering sessional provision, this would be recorded as a 'closed' full day care setting and an 'opened' sessional day care setting. The Ofsted data therefore exaggerate the true extent of turnover.
	Ofsted have produced figures on the numbers of registered child care providers and places on a quarterly basis from March 2003. Their latest figures were published in their report "Registered Childcare Providers and Places, September 2006", which is available on their website, www.Ofsted.gov.uk/

Child Care

Paul Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many child care places have  (a) opened and  (b) closed since 2003.

Beverley Hughes: The available information is shown in the following table.
	
		
			  Table 1: data provided by Ofsted 
			  Places 
			   2003/04  2004/05  2005/06  March 2006-September 2006 
			 Opened 238,600 254,100 214,800 108,900 
			 Childminders 62,800 53,000 48,800 24,300 
			 Full day care 98,600 117,600 90,900 47,200 
			 Out of school 77,200 83,500 75,200 37,400 
			  
			 Closed 128,400 200,800 144,600 86,800 
			 Childminders 50,400 63,000 44,800 26,300 
			 Full day care 38,500 65,600 48,700 27,900 
			 Out of school 39,500 72,200 51,100 32,500 
			  
			 Net steady state changes(1) +24,600 +19,200 +8,900 +5,600 
			 Childminders +6,400 +6,300 +2,100 +1,600 
			 Full day care +14,600 +9,600 +5,600 +3,400 
			 Out of school +3,600 +3,300 +1,200 +680 
			  
			 Net change +134,900 +72,600 +79,100 +27,700 
			 (1) The net steady state refers to registered providers whose registration status has not changed, but whose number of places has fluctuated over the period in question. 
		
	
	Ofsted data on closures include registered places in settings which are transferring ownership, and in settings which move from one Ofsted category to another, not just in those which are ceasing trading. For example, if a sessional provider moved to offering full day care provision, its places would be recorded as 'closed' sessional places and 'opened' full day care places. The Ofsted data therefore exaggerate the true extent of turnover.
	Ofsted have produced figures on the numbers of registered child care providers and places on a quarterly basis from March 2003. Their latest figures were published in their report "Registered Childcare Providers and Places, September 2006", which is available on their website, www.Ofsted.gov.uk/

Child Care

Paul Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many  (a) full-time and  (b) part-time child care places have been available in each local authority area since March 2003.

Beverley Hughes: The Department is unable to provide details of the number of full-time or part-time child care places available as this data are not collected centrally.
	Ofsted have produced figures on the number of registered child care places (by child care type) at local authority level on a quarterly basis from March 2003. Their figures are available on their website at www.Ofsted.gov.uk/

Children's Centres

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills when he expects the next children's centres to open.

Beverley Hughes: Local authorities are responsible for the planning and delivery of Sure Start children's centres, and they will continue to open them on an ongoing basis as they get the required facilities and services in place. There are currently 1,049 designated centres, with the figure rising every month as we progress towards our target of 2,500 by March 2008. By March 2010 there will be at least 3,500 children's centres, one for every community in England.

Children's Centres

Paul Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will list the children's centres in  (a) Aylesbury,  (b) Beaconsfield,  (c) Buckingham,  (d) Chesham and Amersham and  (e) Wycombe constituency.

Beverley Hughes: There are two designated Sure Start Children's Centres in Buckinghamshire local authority. Sure Start Wycombe Children's Centre builds on a Sure Start Local Programme (SSLP) and a neighbourhood nursery (NNI). The centre is located within the Wycombe constituency. Southcourt Children's Centre is based on a neighbourhood nursery and a local primary school and is situated within the Aylesbury constituency.
	There are currently no designated children's centres in the constituencies of Beaconsfield, Buckingham and Chesham and Amersham. There are however, a further 22 centres planned in Buckinghamshire as part of the phase two (2006-08) children's centre roll out with the following distribution: Aylesbury (five centres), Beaconsfield (four), Buckingham (three), Chesham and Amersham (three) and Wycombe (seven).

Day Care: Worthing

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the percentage take-up of places is in each child care facility in East Worthing and Shoreham.

Beverley Hughes: The information requested is not collected centrally.
	Ofsted have produced figures on the number of registered child care places at local authority level on a quarterly basis from March 2003. Their latest figures were published in their report "Registered Childcare Providers and Places, September 2006", which is available on their website at www.Ofsted.gov.uk/

Departmental Mail

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what percentage of his Department's mail is shipped using private companies; and what the cost has been over the last 12 months.

Parmjit Dhanda: In the financial year 2005-06 the Department for Education and Skills spent £390,882 on mail services. Of this total £28,798 was spent on private company couriers, amounting to 7.37 per cent. of total business.

Foundation Degree Courses

Boris Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the proportion is of those who have received a foundation degree since its inception who have gone on to enrol on an honours degree course, broken down by  (a) year and  (b) type of honours institution; and what proportion of such enrolment was into a (i) pre-1992 and (ii) post-1992 university.

Bill Rammell: The available information is shown in the table.
	
		
			  Of those students who gained a foundation degree in the previous academic year, the number and proportion who are enrolled on a first degree course in a UK higher education institution 
			Of which, first degree enrolments  Of which: 
			   Number foundation degree qualifiers in previous academic year  Number  Proportion (%)  Pre-1992 (%)  Post-1992 (%) 
			 2002-03 150 105 68 1 66 
			 2003-04 1,110 655 59 7 52 
			 2004-05 3,130 1,700 54 8 46 
			  Note:  Numbers are rounded to the nearest five, and percentages are shown to the nearest integer.  Source:  Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) 
		
	
	Foundation degrees were introduced in 2001-02 and usually take two years to complete. As such, the number of students recorded to have completed a foundation degree in 2001-02 is fairly small and the figures for the 2001-02 to 2002-03 transition may not be as representative as those for the later years.

Free Fruit

Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many pupils are receiving free fruit in  (a) the North West,  (b) Manchester city and  (c) Manchester, Gorton constituency.

Caroline Flint: I have been asked to reply.
	278,500 children in the North West are participating in the school fruit and vegetable scheme.
	We do not break down information by constituencies but by local authorities and within the Manchester area we supply the following:
	
		
			   Number 
			 Bury 7,622 
			 Tameside 9,621 
			 Trafford 9,657 
			 Salford 9,635 
			 Manchester 20,496 
			 Oldham 11,758 
			 Bolton 12,154

Higher Education Funding Council

Boris Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what progress he has made on fostering dialogue at an  (a) regional and  (b) national level between the Higher Education Funding Council for England and the Learning and Skills Council, with particular reference to their duties (i) to fund and (ii) to plan higher education provision in further education colleges; what programmes are in place to support this policy; how much has been allocated to them; and if he will make a statement.

Bill Rammell: The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) and the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) both have overall budgets in excess of £6 billion and are responsible for funding prescribed and non-prescribed higher education respectively in further education colleges. Neither body has planning responsibilities for higher education since we believe that, instead of a planned approach, every higher education provider must establish and sustain a competitive position in strong markets. However, LSC and HEFCE staff meet regularly with the Department to explore how partnership working can be enhanced across a range of areas, including student progression from further to higher education, which is important as we increase and widen participation.

Higher Education Funding Council

Boris Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what proportion of the Higher Education Funding Council for England's budget was spent on the employment of management consultants in the last financial year.

Bill Rammell: The Higher Education Funding Council for England spent 0.004 per cent. of their budget on management consultants in the last financial year.

Higher Education: Beverley and Holderness

Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many and what percentage of  (a) 18-year-olds and  (b) 19-year-olds from Beverley and Holderness attended university courses in each year since 1997; and if he will make a statement.

Bill Rammell: The latest available figures on participation in higher education by constituency were published by the Higher Education funding Council for England in January 2005 in "Young Participation in England", which is available from their website at http://www.hefce.ac.uk/pubs/hefce/2005/05_03/
	This report shows participation rates for young people who enter higher education aged 18 or 19, disaggregated by constituency, for the years 1997 to 2000. The figures for Beverley and Holderness, and the comparable figure for England, are shown in the table. HEFCE have not produced participation rates beyond 2000.
	
		
			  Young Participation Rate (YPR (A)) in Higher Education ( 1 ) for year cohort aged 18 
			   1997  1998  1999  2000 
			 Cohort for Beverley and Holderness (2) 1,180 1,260 1,220 1,170 
			 Young Participation Rate (A) for Beverley and Holderness (3) (%) 33 30 31 31 
			 Young Participation Rate (A) for England (%) 29.2 28.8 29.2 29.9 
			 (1) Covers all students studying Higher Education Courses at UK Higher Education Institutions and other UK institutions, for example Further Education Colleges. (2) Cohorts are reported to the nearest 10. (3) Young Participation Rates for constituencies are reported to the nearest percentage.  Source:  Higher Education Funding Council for England. 
		
	
	The total numbers of entrants from Beverley and Holderness for each year since 2001/02 are given in the table:
	
		
			  Entrants to undergraduate courses ( 1)  from Beverley and Holderness 
			  2001/02 2002/03 2003/04 2004/05 
			 Aged 18 310 335 300 330 
			 Aged 19 110 110 105 110 
			 Aged over19(2) 865 810 715 870 
			 Total entrants 1,290 1,260 1,125 1,310 
			 (1) Covers all students studying Higher Education Courses at UK Higher Education Institutions only. Students studying Higher Education Courses elsewhere such as Further Education Colleges are excluded. (2) Includes a very small number of students with unknown ages or ages under 18.  Note:  Figures are based on the HESA standard registration population for entrants and have been rounded to the nearest 5, so components may not sum to totals.  Source:  Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA). 
		
	
	The Department uses the higher Education Initial Participation Rate (HEIPR) to assess progress on increasing first-time participation of English students aged 18-30 in higher education towards 50 per cent.: the latest provisional figure for 2004/05 is 42 per cent. The HEIPR is not calculated at constituency level.

Higher Education: Stroud

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what percentage of  (a) 18-year-olds and  (b) 19-year-olds from Stroud constituency attended university courses in each year since 1996-97.

Bill Rammell: The latest available figures on participation in higher education by constituency were published by the Higher Education Funding Council for England in January 2005 in "Young Participation in England", which is available from their website at http://www.hefce.ac.uk/pubs/hefce/2005/05_03/ This report shows participation rates for young people who enter higher education aged 18 or 19, disaggregated by constituency, for the years 1997 to 2000. The figures for Stroud, and the comparable figure for England, are shown in the table. HEFCE have not produced participation rates beyond 2000.
	
		
			  Young participation rate (YPR (A)) in higher education( 1)  for year cohort aged 18 
			   1997  1998  1999  2000 
			 Cohort for Stroud(2) (Number) 1,190 1,260 1,210 1,220 
			 Young Participation Rate (A) for Stroud(3) (Percentage) 36 36 37 38 
			 Young Participation Rate (A) for England (Percentage) 29.2 28.8 29.2 29.9 
			 (1) Covers all students studying higher education courses at UK higher education institutions and other UK institutions, for example further education colleges. (2) Cohorts are reported to the nearest 10. (3) Young participation rates for constituencies are reported to the nearest percentage.  Source: Higher Education Funding Council for England. 
		
	
	The total number of entrants from Stroud for each year since 2001/02 are given in the table.
	
		
			  Entrants to undergraduate courses( 1)  from Stroud 
			   2001/02  2002/03  2003/04  2004/05 
			 Aged 18 280 230 245 240 
			 Aged 19 205 195 215 205 
			 Aged over 19(2) 580 515 605 520 
			 Total entrants 1,065 945 1,060 970 
			 (1) Covers all students studying higher education courses at UK higher education institutions only. Students studying higher education courses elsewhere such as further education colleges are excluded. (2) Includes a very small number of students with unknown ages or ages under 18.  Note: Figures are based on the HESA standard registration population for entrants and have been rounded to the nearest 5, so components may not sum to totals.  Source: Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA). 
		
	
	The Department uses the higher education initial participation rate (HEIPR) to assess progress on increasing first-time participation of English students aged 18 to 30 in higher education towards 50 per cent.: the latest provisional figure for 2004/05 is 42 per cent. The HEIPR is not calculated at constituency level.

Management Consultants

Boris Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what his on policy is on the recruitment of management consultants.

Parmjit Dhanda: The Department for Education and Skills, like any other organisation, uses consultants and other specialists where the need arises, particularly when we do not possess the required background skills and experience in-house. Officials are clear about: the importance of using consultants only where there is a proper business case for doing so; the importance of securing effective consultancy outcomes and good value for money; the need to secure skills transfer whenever appropriate; and the need to regularly review the duration and effectiveness of consultancy assignments.

Management Consultants

Boris Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills on how many occasions  (a) he and  (b) other departmental Ministers have met management consultants in the last 12 months.

Parmjit Dhanda: This question could be answered only at disproportionate cost.

Public Opinion Research

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much his Department has spent on commissioning public opinion research in each of the last five years.

Parmjit Dhanda: The Department has spent a total of £522,652 on public opinion research surveys in the last five years. The research findings are available on the Department's website.
	
		
			  Financial year  Cost (exc. VAT) (£) 
			 2002-03 111,500 
			 2003-04 113,840 
			 2004-05 65,521 
			 2005-06 123,736 
			 2006-07 (to date) 108,036

Retirement Age

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills pursuant to the answer from the Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office, the hon. Member for Wolverhampton, South-East (Mr. McFadden), to the hon. Member for Blackpool, South (Mr. Marsden) of 4 December 2006,  Official Report, columns 189-90W, on the retirement age, what his Department's policy is for the setting of retirement ages for staff below the senior civil service under the Civil Service (Management Functions) Act 1992.

Parmjit Dhanda: The setting of retirement ages for staff in my Department is a function that has been delegated to the permanent secretary under the definition in paragraph 2 (1) (a) of the Civil Service (Management Functions) Act 1992 relating to management of members of Her Majesty's Home Civil Service. As such, the permanent secretary approved new age retirement arrangements, with effect from 1 October 2006, whereby there is no maximum retirement age for staff below the senior civil service.

Speech Therapy: Children

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills 
	(1)  how his Department plans to work with voluntary sector providers of speech and language support to ensure high quality provision in all children's centres;
	(2)  whether children's centres will be able to apply for support from his Department for  (a) service delivery and  (b) speech and language support as part of the children's centres rollout;
	(3)  what support will be available to local authorities which identify a need for increased language support in children's centres; and if he will make a statement.

Beverley Hughes: We have a strong commitment to use children's centres to provide integrated services including health services for families of young children. Speech and language therapy services are an important priority because foundations of communication skills development in the early years are crucial to maximising children's outcomes. It is because of thiswe have a programme to support speech andlanguage development in early year settings—"Communicating Matters"—which was developed following consultation with all our delivery partners including voluntary sector providers. PCTs are the main providers of speech and language services through children's centres and we work closely with the Department of Health on improving these services. Nationally, we are holding discussions with ICAN (a voluntary sector organisation with expertise in speech and language therapy) about a proposal for work in a number of children's centres. The Sure Start Children's Centres Practice Guidance supports the development of speech and language services through children's centres and encourages them to work with PCTs and voluntary sector organisations in their area.

Thorncross Young Offender Institute

Helen Southworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will take urgent steps to ensure that vulnerable young people at Thorncross Young Offender Institute continue to receive their entitlement to services under the Children Act 1989 after March 2007.

Beverley Hughes: holding answer 11 December 2006
	The statutory duty to provide services to children and young people in need rests with local authorities and I expect them to act in accordance with this responsibility. My Department has been discussing with local authority representatives, the Home Office and the Youth Justice Board how local agencies can best discharge their statutory responsibilities in meeting the needs of vulnerable young people in custody, including where they are or may be children in need as defined in the Children Act 1989.

University Campuses: Freedom of Speech of Association

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what legal obligations there are on universities to provide freedom of speech and freedom of association on university campuses to Christian Unions.

Bill Rammell: Universities have duties under the Education (No. 2) Act 1986 to ensure, as far as is reasonably practicable, that freedom of speech within the law is secured for members, students, employees and visiting speakers. They must also ensure insofar as reasonably practicable that the use of the institution's premises is not denied to any individual or body of people on the grounds of their beliefs, views, policies or objectives. In addition, the Education Act 1994 requires university governing bodies to take such steps as reasonably practicable to ensure the student union operates in a fair and democratic manner.
	I believe that legitimate faith groups on campus should be affiliated with the students' union provided that they are operating within the law and thestudents' union framework. Students' unions should be inclusive.

DUCHY OF LANCASTER

Social Exclusion

Meg Hillier: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what contribution she expects personalised public services to make to tackling social exclusion.

Hilary Armstrong: The Government have made personalisation of services a key feature of public sector reform. We are stepping up efforts to personalise services for the most excluded through pilots of budget-holding lead professionals for children in care, health-led parenting support projects for disadvantaged families, and pilots to address the needs of adults with chaotic lives and multiple problems. These initiatives will provide more tailored support, empower the service user, and better enable co-ordination of services, thereby improving the outcomes of the most excluded.

Social Exclusion

Anne Snelgrove: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if she will give an example of early intervention; what assessment she has made of the effect of early intervention on social exclusion; and if she will make a statement.

Hilary Armstrong: Early intervention is one of the guiding principles of the Government's Social Exclusion Action Plan and is vital to breaking the cycle of disadvantage and deprivation. This is not only beneficial to the children and families concerned, but it also saves the taxpayer from the high costs of treatment and communities from the side-effects of exclusion.
	The Nurse-Family Partnership is an excellent example of early intervention. It is a structured programme of home visits by trained nurses to disadvantaged families during pregnancy and the first two years. I visited this programme last week in the United States, where the model has been running for nearly 30 years and has proven to be very successful—particularly for families with complex problems.

Social Exclusion

James McGovern: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what use the Government make of the definitions of relative and absolute poverty when developing policy on social exclusion.

Hilary Armstrong: This Government use both relative and absolute measures of poverty. Regardless of which measure is used, what is clear is that poverty has been greatly reduced since 1997. Since 1997 there are now 7 million fewer people in absolute poverty;2.4 million adults have been lifted out of relative poverty; and 700,000 children lifted out of relative poverty.

Social Exclusion

Angela Smith: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what assessment she has made of the impact of the Government's policies on poverty and social exclusion in Sheffield since 1997; and if she will make a statement.

Hilary Armstrong: Sheffield is the key economic driver for South Yorkshire. The Government have supported Sheffield through targeted funding for the regeneration of the city centre and through programmes such as new deal for communities (NDC) and neighbourhood renewal fund (NRF). This has had a significant impact. Between November 1997 and November 2006 the total unemployment claimant count dropped by 48 per cent. with the number of long term claimants falling by77 per cent. The number of long term youth claimants fell by 93 per cent.

Administrative Business Burdens

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what progress has been made by her Department in reducing the administrative burden on UK business.

Patrick McFadden: As we announced on Monday,19 Departments, agencies and regulators have now published simplification plans, and copies of these plans have been laid in the House. The plans contain details on the measurement of the administrative burden.
	All departments have set a target to reduce their administrative burden by 25 per cent. except for the Cabinet Office, which has set a target of 35 per cent.
	This first year of plans includes savings which will be worth £2 billion annually by 2010, and we expect next year's plans to improve on this.

DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER

Ministerial Committee on Local and Regional Government

Bernard Jenkin: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will make a statement on his responsibilitieswith regard to the chairmanship of the Ministerial Committee on Local and Regional Government.

John Prescott: The hon. Gentleman will be aware that I chair the Cabinet committees on Local and Regional Government, as well as Local and Regional Government Strategy and Performance.
	My task is to broker collectively agreed policy,to ensure local government is best empowered to provide excellent services and improve the lives of our citizens.

Pensions

Mark Harper: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what contribution he has made to cross-departmental co-ordination of the development of policy on pensions; and if he will make a statement.

John Prescott: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer I gave to the right hon. Member for Wells (Mr. Heathcoat-Amory) today.

Pensions

David Evennett: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what recent contribution he has made to cross-departmental co-ordination of the development of policy on pensions; and if he will make a statement.

John Prescott: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer I gave to the right hon. Member for Wells (Mr. Heathcoat-Amory) today.

Post Office

Iain Wright: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what recent contribution he has made to the cross-departmental development of policy on the Post Office.

John Prescott: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Stoke-on-Trent, North (Joan Walley).

Departmental Finance

Mark Lancaster: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the administration costs of his new Office have been in 2006-07, broken down by main budget heading.

John Prescott: Audited annual accounts will be published in due course.

HEALTH

"Choosing Health"

Andrew Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many awards to health champions have been made in accordance with the "Choosing Health" agenda.

Caroline Flint: The Department has not made any awards to health champions.

"Choosing Health"

Andrew Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many health trainers have been recruited under "Choosing Health"; and at what cost.

Caroline Flint: There are currently 719 health trainers recruited to the programme. It is anticipated that there will be 1,200 health trainers in spearhead areas by the end of financial year 2006-07.
	"Choosing Health" money in the sum of £36 million has been allocated to primary care trusts for this purpose. However, it is up to individual PCTs to make decisions about where they allocate resources and how many health trainers they will need to meet the needs of their local population.

"Choosing Health"

Andrew Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what  (a) qualifications and  (b) training for assessments are required of "Choosing Health" accredited health trainers.

Caroline Flint: The employment requirements are that health trainers satisfy the mandatory core competencies supplied by the Department. The core competencies, developed by Skills for Health with the Department, were finalised at the end of the early adopter phase, which finished on 31 March 2006. Health trainer training is agreed and implemented at a local level.
	Formal accreditation is being developed with awarding bodies and should be in place in the first half of 2007.

"Choosing Health"

Andrew Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment has been made of the effectiveness in improving health of the "Choosing Health" strategy for pharmaceutical public health. [R]

Andy Burnham: No formal assessment has been made of the effectiveness in improving health of the "Choosing Health" 10-year strategy for pharmaceutical public health. However, there are many examples of pharmacy's valuable contribution, including through improving access to sexual health services, increasing uptake of stop smoking services and better services for substance misusers.

"Choosing Health"

Andrew Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what evidence-based guidelines on occupational health have been brought forward in accordance with the "Choosing Health" strategy.

Rosie Winterton: The "Choosing Health" White Paper published in November 2004 commits to the development of evidence-based guidelines in occupational health (section 7.38).
	The Department has a project in hand to develop such evidence-based guidelines, which will help NHS Plus occupational health units raise the quality, standards and consistency of their work.
	The first NHS Plus guideline, "occupational aspects of the management of chronic fatigue syndrome: a national guideline" was published in October 2006.
	The following guidelines are currently under development and we plan to publish these during 2007:
	the management of latex allergies in the workplace;
	the identification and management of infected food handlers;
	the management of expectant mothers undertaking shift work and manual handling; and
	the management of chicken pox and shingles in the workplace.
	In addition, NHS Plus sponsored the development of a new guideline on the identification of alcohol problems in the workplace in July 2007. This guideline is planned for publication in 2008.

Cancer Treatment

Christopher Fraser: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps her Department has taken to ensure that the prostate cancer charter for action is implemented by all cancer networks.

Rosie Winterton: The prostate cancer charter for action was first launched at the House of Commons on 29 January 2003. It represents the coming together of all the key charities and professional organisations working in the field of prostate cancer, speaking with a collective voice. The actions agreed by the charter are being considered by the prostate cancer advisory group (PCAG), chaired by Professor Mike Richards, the National Cancer Director. Some of these actions will have an impact on cancer networks, but not all.
	The main driver to improve prostate cancer services is the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidance on 'Improving Outcomes in Urological Cancers', including prostate cancer, which was issued in September 2002. Each strategic health authority was asked to demonstrate that its cancer network(s) had suitable action plans in place for the implementation of this guidance. Progress towards the implementation of these plans is assessed by both the Department and the Healthcare Commission.

Cancer Treatment

Christopher Fraser: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much her Department spent on  (a) breast cancer,  (b) lung cancer,  (c) prostate cancer,  (d) colorectal cancer and  (e) cancer research in each of the last eight years.

Andy Burnham: The main part of the Department's research and development budget is allocated to and managed by national health service organisations. These organisations account for their use of the allocations they receive from the Department in an annual research and development report. The reports identify total, aggregated expenditure on national priority areas, including cancer. Details of individual projects supported in the NHS, including those concerned with site-specific cancers, can be found on the national research register at www.dh.gov.uk/research.
	The total of the Department's annual spend on cancer research as reported by NHS organisations and by the Department's national research programmes since 1997 is shown in the following table.
	The National Cancer Research Institute's 2004 strategic analysis of the directly funded cancer research supported by Government and charities showed that, as at 1 April 2004, 62 per cent. of total funding was dedicated to supporting research that could be applicable to all cancers.
	
		
			   £ million 
			 1997-98 53 
			 1998-99 75.4 
			 1999-2000 77.4 
			 2000-01 83.8 
			 2001-02 113.4 
			 2002-03 124.1 
			 2003-04 139.8 
			 2004-05 150.3 
			 2005-06 (1)168 
			  Note: This figure and the figure for 2004-05 are provisional 
		
	
	The NHS prostate cancer programme confirmed the NHS Plan commitment to increase the Department's funding for directly commissioned prostate cancer research to £4.2 million by 2003-04. The Department's expenditure on directly commissioned prostate cancer research was £4.2 million in that year and in 2004-05. A similar level of funding will be maintained for future years, subject to the quality of research proposals received.
	This figure and the figure for 2004-05 are provisional.

Cancer Treatment

Christopher Fraser: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment her Department has made of the difference between  (a) the number of instances of prostate cancer and  (b) prostate cancer mortalityrates in the North of England and those in the South;what steps the Government are taking to reducesuch differences; and if she will make a statement.

Rosie Winterton: The latest assessment from the Office for National Statistics on prostate cancer incidence and mortality are shown in the following tables.
	
		
			  Incidence, 2004 
			  Government office region  Number  Crude rate  Age standardised rate 
			 North East 1,321 106.8 82.8 
			 North West 4,468 134.4 109.9 
			 Yorkshire and the Humber 2,909 118.3 96.1 
			 East Midlands 2,415 114.5 89.5 
			 West Midlands 3,377 128.9 103.2 
			 East 3,164 117.3 89.9 
			 London 3,012 82.0 91.3 
			 South East 4,752 119.6 95.4 
			 South West 3,988 162.2 112.7 
		
	
	
		
			  Deaths, 2005 
			  Government office region  Number  Crude rate  Age standardised rate 
			 North East 392 31.48 23.43 
			 North West 1,109 33.23 25.69 
			 Yorkshire and the Humber 795 32.13 24.30 
			 East Midlands 756 35.54 25.71 
			 West Midlands 889 33.72 24.98 
			 East 1,015 37.28 25.54 
			 London 953 25.62 25.73 
			 South East 1,456 36.37 25.36 
			 South West 1,128 45.56 27.63 
			  Notes 1. Per 100,000 population. 2. The age standardised rate (ASR) is the rate per 100,000 population standardised to the European standard population. 3. Cause of death was defined using the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) code C61 (prostate cancer). 4. Based on the Government office region (GOR) boundaries as of 2005.  Source: Office for National Statistics. 
		
	
	There is variability in incidence and deaths from prostate cancer around the country with a slightly higher than average incidence across London and the South of England. A similar pattern exists for mortality, although there was less variation than for incidence. The mortality rate has started to decline in recent years.
	Geographical variations in incidence may, to some extent, be explained by regional differences in the availability and uptake of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing. The introduction of the PSA test in the early 1990s led to a big increase in the diagnosis of prostate cancer, although this was on top of an existing underlying trend of more cases. Figures on PSA testing are not collected centrally.

Capture, Assess, Treat and Support Scheme

Joan Humble: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what procedures will be adopted  (a) to determine which patients are treated by (i) the contractor and (ii) the NHS acute trust and  (b) to offer choice to patients about where they will be treated following the award of the contract for the capture, assess, treat and support scheme in Lancashire.

Andy Burnham: The clinical assessment and treatment service (CATS) is a primary care based referral and assessment service and will be available for patients who do not need the specialist skills of secondary care or an elective procedure as part of an integrated modern clinical pathway.
	Patients will be afforded a number of choices as they move along their pathway. Patients can select from different CATS locations when referred by their general practitioners and patients will also be offered a choice of provider after they have been assessed through CATS.
	The referring clinician, who will usually be a general practitioner or specialist nurse, should help each patient make the best choice for their needs.

Carbon Trading Permits

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the total cost to the NHS has been of carbon trading permits.

Andy Burnham: The information requested is not collected centrally.

Choose and Book System

Andrew Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans she has to improve computer systems operating choose and book; and what plans she has to review the effectiveness of choose and book.

Caroline Flint: Many different types of general practice and hospital computer systems are in use across the national health service. NHS trusts and primary care trusts (PCTs) are responsible for maintaining and upgrading local systems, for the technical integration of these systems with choose and book. NHS Connecting for Health supports technical upgrading by providing funding to cover the reasonable costs of making existing systems choose and book-compliant. NHS Connecting for Health is also currently piloting a performance-monitoring tool designed to help local project and information technology teams diagnose and locate any problems in the overall choose and book process.
	Nationally, the system has performed well since its launch in 2004. One PCT already uses choose and book for over 90 per cent. of its referrals, which demonstrates that the system is working and fit for purpose. Local benchmarking suggests that when local configuration is correct choose and book is easy and convenient to use, and over the last 12 months the national system has been available for use over 99 per cent. of the time.
	Choose and book has now achieved over 15,000 bookings in a single day and is being used for over25 per cent. of NHS referral activity from general practitioners' (GPs) surgeries to first outpatient appointment. Over 1.7 million bookings have been made to date, and over 80 per cent. of all GP practices have used choose and book to refer their patients to hospital.
	We know that when patients have the opportunity to book their appointments electronically they are more likely to attend their hospital appointment. This helps avoid wasting valuable appointments and contributes to hospitals running more efficiently. Missed appointments are a constant drain on NHS resources, estimated to cost up to £300 million a year. For example, one trust has seen non-attendance and rescheduling rates fall from 9 per cent. to 5 per cent., and from 14 per cent. to4 per cent. respectively, where choose and book is in use.

Community Treatment Orders

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what the conclusion was of the report which her Department commissioned to look at international experiences of implementing community treatment orders;
	(2)  which countries were investigated in the course of the preparation of the report which her Department commissioned to look at international experiences of implementing community treatment orders; and how those countries were chosen;
	(3)  what the implications for the Mental Health Bill are of the report which her Department commissioned to look at international experiences of implementing community treatment orders;
	(4)  what sources were used for the report her Department commissioned to examine international experiences of implementing community treatment orders.

Rosie Winterton: The research, which looks at international experiences of implementing Community Treatment Orders, has not been completed yet. It would therefore be inappropriate to discuss the report at this stage.

Connecting for Health Programme

John Pugh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what new instructions have been issued to those responsible for procuring  (a) software and  (b) hardware under the Connecting for Health programme in the last three months.

Caroline Flint: None.

Dentistry

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  how many dentists in  (a) Wakefield,  (b) the Hemsworth constituency,  (c) Yorkshire and  (d) England accept NHS patients;
	(2)  how many dentists in  (a) Wakefield,  (b) the Hemsworth constituency,  (c) Yorkshire and Humberside and  (d) England accepted NHS patients in (i) 1997 and (ii) 2001.

Rosie Winterton: The information is not available in the format requested.
	As at 30 September 2006, 135 dentists in East and Western Wakefield primary care trusts PCTs), 1923 dentists in NHS Yorkshire and the Humber and 20,285 dentists in England held open national health services (NHS) contracts. A dentist can provide as much NHS treatment as he or she chooses and has agreed with the primary care trusts (PCTs). Information is not held centrally at town, county or constituency level and could be provided only in these formats at disproportionate cost.
	For 1997 and 2001, information on numbers of dentists is available at England, strategic health authority, PCT and constituency level. This information is in the following table.
	
		
			  Organisation  1997  2001 
			 Wakefield West PCT 41 49 
			 Eastern Wakefield PCT 61 60 
			 North and East Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire SHA 495 554 
			 West Yorkshire SHA 699 737 
			 South Yorkshire SHA 431 469 
			 England 16,470 18,353 
			  Notes: 1. The data in this report are based on NHS dentists on PCT lists. These details were passed on to the Business Services Authority (BSA) who paid dentists based on activity undertaken. A dentist can provide as little or as much NHS treatment as he or she chooses or has agreed with the PCT. In some cases, an NHS dentist may appear on a PCT list but not perform any NHS work in that period. Most NHS dentists do some private work. The data do not take into account the proportion of NHS work undertaken by dentists. 2. Figures for the numbers of dentists at specified dates may vary depending on the date the figures are compiled. This is because the NHS Business Services Authority (BSA) may be notified of joiners or leavers to or from the GDS or PDS up to several months, or more, after the move has taken place. 3. SHA and PCT data include all dentists practising in that area. Some dentists may have an open GDS or PDS contract in more than one PCT or SHA and therefore they have been counted more than once. The total number of dentists given for England does not include duplication.  Source: The Information Centre for health and social care NHS Business Services Authority (BSA)

Dentistry

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  which primary care trusts provide school children with routine dental screening in school; and what age groups receive such screening;
	(2)  in how many of the areas in which primary care trusts provide children with routine dental screening in schools screening is given  (a) with and  (b) without the consent of a parent or guardian.

Rosie Winterton: Dentists in primary care trusts' salaried dental services undertake statutory dental screening inspections of schoolchildren at around ages six and nine to identify those in need of a further examination and treatment.
	Originally, it was the practice for the primary care trust (PCT) dental services to advise parents that a school dental inspection was going to take place and that parents were to advise the school if they had any objection to their child being inspected. We reviewed this policy earlier this year and issued new guidance which indicated that it was necessary to obtain positive consent for these inspections from either the child (if he/she was judged to be competent to give consent) or from the parents/or relevant person with parental responsibility.
	Information on which primary care trusts currently undertake screening is not available centrally, but we are aware that the number of children receiving a dental screening each year has fallen.
	In November 2006 the United Kingdom (UK) National Screening Committee (NSC) recommended to the UK chief dental officers that there is no evidence to support the continued population screening for dental disease among children aged six to nine years.
	The NSC recommended that higher value from the use of these resources would be achieved if they were used in addressing oral health inequalities more effectively. We will shortly be issuing guidance to primarycare trusts on the implementation of the NSCs recommendations.

Drug Rehabilitation

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many addicts were  (a) accepted onto and  (b) refused a place on drugs rehabilitation courses in each year since 1997.

Caroline Flint: We do not hold information centrally the number of drug misusers accepted or refused for courses in drug rehabilitation.

Drug Services

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what funding was allocated by her Department to  (a) Bristol,  (b) Birmingham,  (c) Manchester,  (d) Liverpool and  (e) Leeds in 2005-06 for drug services in each city; and what each figure represents (i) per capita and (ii) per problematic drug user.

Caroline Flint: The information is not available in the format requested.
	
		
			  2005-06 pooled drug treatment budgets 
			  £ 
			 Bristol 2,819,000 
			 Birmingham 10,392,000 
			 Manchester 5,778,000 
			 Liverpool 5,852,000 
			 Leeds 4,974,000

Education Funding

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether her Department plans to allocate funds to innovative means of educating those not in full time  (a) education or  (b) training on sexual health; and if she will make a statement.

Caroline Flint: The Department launched its new adult sexual health campaign, 'Condom Essential Wear' on 9 November 2006. The campaign, which is costing approximately £4 million in this financial year, targets 18-24 year olds, who are among the most at risk of contracting sexually transmitted infections.
	The campaign aims to inform young adults about the prevalence and invisibility of sexually transmitted infections, while making using a condom as familiar as carrying a mobile phone or using a seatbelt. It is an integrated media campaign including television, radio and press adverts as well as substantial public relations, partnership and digital marketing and has been developed along social marketing principles starting from the position of the consumer with the aim of bringing about long-term behavioural change.
	It is one of three Government campaigns working to improve sexual health and reduce teenage pregnancy. 'Condom Essential Wear' complements the Department for Education and Skills teenage pregnancy campaigns R U Thinking and Want Respect? Use a Condom, the latter of which also focuses on sexually transmitted infections prevention. The total cost of this work across Government is £7.5 million this financial year.

Fiscal Incentives

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State forHealth what her Department's assessment is of the effectiveness of fiscal incentives in changing consumer behaviour; and in what ways fiscal mechanisms may be used to change people's behaviour.

Caroline Flint: All matters relating to tax are, of course, a matter for my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer. He will take all relevant factors into consideration when making decisions in the Budget.

Food Packaging

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what research she has  (a) commissioned and  (b) funded into the nutritional claims made on food packaging; and what discussions she has had with the Department of Trade and Industry on controls on (i) advertising and (ii) marketing of products.

Caroline Flint: The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has been leading on negotiations on a new European regulation on nutrition and health claims made on food, which has recently been adopted and is expected to apply in the summer of next year. This regulation will require all claims to have been assessed and authorised before they can be used and will set conditions a product must meet in order to bear a claim.
	To inform the development of this legislation the FSA commissioned and funded a number of projects including research into consumer understanding of claims and substantiation of vitamin and mineral function statements. The FSA has consulted widely on the development of the regulation, including with the Department of Trade and Industry.

Genito-urinary Clinics

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many attendances there have been at genito-urinary medicine clinics of  (a) men and  (b) women in each year since 1997, broken down by those aged (i) under 16, (ii) 16 to 24, (iii) 25 to 44 and (iv) 45 years and over.

Caroline Flint: Information by age group is not available for attendances at GUM clinics. Data on gender are only available since 2003 and are shown in the following table.
	
		
			  Number of all attendances (including follow-up patients) at GUM clinics from 1997 to 2005 in England 
			   Total of attendances 
			   Female  Male  Male and Female 
			 1997 — — 1,609,554 
			 1998 — — 1,600,258 
			 1999 — — 1,605,667 
			 2000 — — 1,536,665 
			 2001 — — 1,595,695 
			 2002 — — 1,636,563 
			 2003 858,939 865,617 1,724,556 
			 2004 876,335 879,570 1,755,905 
			 2005 896,385 891,454 1,787,839 
			  Source of data:  KC60 returns, England.

Gluten-free Food

Sally Keeble: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many primary care trusts in the East Midlands provide gluten-free food on prescription.

Caroline Flint: All primary care trusts in the NHS East Midlands area provided gluten free products on prescription in 2005-06.

Good Hope Hospital

Brian Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average waiting time was in accident and emergency at Good Hope hospital in each of the last ten years.

Andy Burnham: The Department does not collect data at the level of individual hospitals. Information on the percentage of patients admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours of their arrival at accident and emergency (A&E) departments was first published for the period July to September 2002-03. This continues to be published quarterly. The information available for the Good Hope hospital national health service trust is shown in the following table.
	Total time spent in A&E from arrival to admission, transfer or discharge, Good Hope hospitals NHS trust, quarter 2 2002-03 to quarter 2 2006-07.
	
		
			  Quarter  Year  Percentage of patients spending under four hours between arrival in A&E and admission, transfer or discharge 
			 Q2 2002-03 81.2 
			 Q3 2002-03 72.7 
			 Q4 2002-03 77.0 
			 Q1 2003-04 85.8 
			 Q2 2003-04 87.8 
			 Q3 2003-04 93.0 
			 Q4 2003-04 92.4 
			 Q1 2004-05 95.6 
			 Q2 2004-05 97.4 
			 Q3 2004-05 95.9 
			 Q4 2004-05 96.2 
			 Q1 2005-06 97.0 
			 Q2 2005-06 97.2 
			 Q3 2005-06 96.2 
			 Q4 2005-06 95.8 
			 Q1 2006-07 96.0 
			 Q2 2006-07 95.6 
			  Notes: Good Hope hospitals NHS trust has only ever provided on type one A&E department, i.e. no type two or type three departments.  Source: Department of Health dataset QMAE

Good Hope Hospital

Brian Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many operations have been carried out at Good Hope hospital in each of the last ten years.

Caroline Flint: The information requested is not available in the format required. However, the count of all in-patient procedures for the Good Hope hospital NHS trust for 1995-96 to 2004 is in the following table.
	
		
			   Total procedures 
			 2004-05 96,697 
			 2003-04 90,256 
			 2002-03 82,849 
			 2001-02 77,847 
			 2000-01 77,602 
			 1999-00 74,261 
			 1998-99 72,644 
			 1997-98 63,911 
			 1996-97 62,324 
			 1995-96 58,079 
			  Notes:  Total procedures. These figures represent a count of all FCE's where the procedure was mentioned in any of the 12 (four prior to 2002-03) operation fields in a HES record.  In-patients. In-patients are defined as patients who are admitted to hospital and occupy a bed, including both admissions where an overnight stay is planned and day cases. Many operations take place in an outpatient setting and HES does not capture these figures therefore do not represent the total number of operations performed by this trust.  Ungrossed Data. Figures have not been adjusted for shortfalls in data (i.e. the data are ungrossed)  Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), The Information Centre for Health and Social Care

GP Guidance

Geraldine Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether she issues guidance to general practitioners on the criteria they should use when determining whether a patient is referred to a clinical assessment and treatment support service or secondary NHS care.

Caroline Flint: Guidance on referral management centres and other similar arrangements was set out in the commissioning framework published on 13 July 2006.

Hand-rolled Tobacco

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what discussions she has had with the Chief Medical Officer on trends in the use of hand rolled tobacco; and if she will make a statement.

Caroline Flint: The Secretary of State is very concerned about the increasing use of hand-rolled cigarettes, particularly counterfeit or contraband products, and has made this concern known to the Chief Medical Officer. Research by the national health service stop smoking helpline this year found that24 per cent. of regular smokers now smoke roll-ups, a rise from 11 per cent. in 1990. The use of hand-rolled tobacco had become increasingly popular among teenagers. This finding is in line with a 2006 World Health Organization poll which reported that the number of those using hand-rolled tobacco has doubled since 1990 and that one in four smokers worldwide now smokes hand-rolled cigarettes.

Hepatitis C

Andrew Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate she has made of  (a) the disease burden secondary to hepatitis C infection and  (b) the resources necessary to manage the consequences of Hepatitis C infection over the next 20 years; and if she will make a statement.

Caroline Flint: The Health Protection Agency (HPA) has estimated the current burden of disease secondary to, or related to, hepatitis C and is carrying out work to predict the future burden of disease. The information is contained in the HPA's report "Hepatitis C in England—The First Health Protection Agency Annual Report 2005", which has been placed in the Library.
	The projected demand for and costs of hepatitis C services over the next twenty years are unclear given several uncertainties, including the number of new infections during that period, the rate at which people with existing infections are diagnosed, the number of patients with mild hepatitis C who opt to defer treatment to see whether progressive liver disease develops and the emergence of new therapies.

Hospital Treatment Times

David Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what average time elapsed between admission and treatment at  (a) Queen Mary's Hospital, Sidcup,  (b) Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Woolwich and  (c) Darent Valley Hospital, Dartford in each of the last five years.

Caroline Flint: The information requested is not held centrally.

Infant Mortality

Helen Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress has been made towards reaching the target of reducing inequalities in health outcomes as measured by infant mortality by 10 per cent. by 2010 in  (a) the North East Strategic Health Authority area,  (b) Bishop Auckland and  (c) England.

Caroline Flint: The public service agreements health inequalities target for England is by 2010 to reduce inequalities in health outcomes by 10 per cent. as measured by infant mortality and life expectancy at birth.
	It is supported by the specific objective in infant mortality starting with children under one year, by 2010 to reduce by at least 10 per cent. the gap in mortality between routine and manual groups and the population as a whole.
	This is a national target. No targets for reducing inequalities in health outcome as measured by infant mortality have been set below this level, so no targets exist for the NHS North East area or for Bishop Auckland.
	In terms of progress against the national target, infant mortality rates have declined in all groups and are at a historic low level. However, the rate of decline has been faster in other groups rather than routine and manual groups. As a result, there has been a widening in the relative gap between infant mortality in the routine and manual group and the total population between the target baseline 1997-99 and 2001-03 and 2002-04. The latest period 2003-05 shows a slight narrowing of the gap.
	The infant mortality rate among the routine and manual group was 18 per cent. higher than in the total population in 2003-05, compared with 19 per cent. higher in 2001-03 and 2002-04. This compares with13 per cent. higher in the baseline period of 1997-99.

Influenza

Evan Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what participation by the biopharmaceutical sector is planned for the pandemic influenza planning exercise in February 2007.

Rosie Winterton: In 2007, a separate exercise is planned for the participation of the medical supply chain to test their preparations in the event of an influenza pandemic.

Influenza

Peter Viggers: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether people with Parkinson's disease will be entitled to free anti-influenza inoculations in 2006-07.

Caroline Flint: Parkinson's disease is not currently a risk group identified for routine flu vaccination. However, general practitioners may offer flu vaccine to their patients taking into account the risk of influenza infection exacerbating any underlying disease that a patient may have, as well as the risk of serious illness from influenza itself.

Influenza

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the Government's policy is on the  (a) prophylactic and  (b) acute use of (i) anti-viral drugs and (ii) the H5N1 avian influenza vaccine in the event of a pandemic reaching the UK.

Rosie Winterton: We have purchased a sufficient quantity of oseltamivir (Tamiflu) to treat 25 per cent. of the population. This should be adequate to treat all those who fall ill in a pandemic of similar proportions to those in the 20th century.
	We are currently considering the practicalities of giving antivirals (as prophylaxis) to members of the household of a person with pandemic influenza. This would require a larger stockpile than currently planned for. Sustained use of antivirals for prophylaxis will not represent the best use of our resources, and would reduce the number of people who could be treated.
	We are stockpiling 3.3 million doses of H5N1 vaccines (1.7 million have been delivered). These may be used for frontline healthcare workers if there was a close enough match between the vaccine strain and the emerging pandemic strain. It is important to remember that a pandemic virus could be so different from pre-pandemic vaccine strains that such vaccines would not offer any benefit.

Medical Research: Funding

Mark Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much funding has been allocated from the total NHS budget to  (a) HIV and AIDS and  (b) multiple sclerosis services and research in 2006-07.

Caroline Flint: Primary care trusts provide health care for those living with HIV and AIDS and multiple sclerosis funded from their general allocations. The total funding for HIV/AIDS and multiple sclerosis is therefore not separately identifiable.
	The main agency through which the Government supports biomedical research is the Medical Research Council.
	The Department provides funding mainly through allocations made annually to national health service providers for research and development to meet the priorities and needs of the NHS and to meet the costs to the NHS of hosting research supported by external funders. Research priorities are identified locally and the Department does not specify the disease or other areas in which the allocations made must be spent.

Mental Health

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the budget was of each NHS mental health trust in each of the last three years; and what the percentage annual change was in funding provided to each trust over that period.

Rosie Winterton: This information is not available. The Department makes revenue allocations to primary care trusts (PCTs), from which they can provide or commission mental health services in accordance with their own local priorities. Mental health trusts are not given funds for this purpose.
	Allocations were first made to PCTs in 2003-04, but prior to this funding was allocated to health authorities. Information on expenditure by each PCT on the commissioning of mental illness services and details of revenue allocations to each PCT for 2003-04 to 2005-06 and for 2006-07 to 2007-08 is available in the Library. These data exclude social care spending on mental health and expenditure on mental health treatment in primary care.

Mental Health

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people are diagnosed with schizophrenia.

Rosie Winterton: holding answer 11 December 2006
	This information is not held centrally.

Mental Health

John Pugh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people detained within a secure hospital unit are diagnosed as psychopathic; and what trends there have been in the number diagnosed over the last ten years.

Rosie Winterton: The information requested is not collected centrally.

MRSA Screening

Denis MacShane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what her policy is on screening of patients and staff for MRSA agents prior to entering hospital.

Andy Burnham: On 16 November 2006, the Department published enhanced advice on screening patients at risk prior to, or on admission to hospital and in particular clinical circumstances. It advises trusts to review their strategies for screening and decolonisation of patients with MRSA carriage immediately. The advice includes a number of scenarios for local consideration, where the risk of infection can be reduced through screening and/or decolonisation of patients at relatively high risk.
	Recommendations on staff screening for MRSA were published in May 2006 in the 'Journal of Hospital Infection', as part of updated guidance on prevention and control of MRSA. This was produced by a working party on MRSA(1) at the Department's request. Routine screening of staff for MRSA carriage is not recommended practice. However, screening may be advised by the local infection control team, when there are particular epidemiological features to indicate that staff may be the source of linked cases of MRSA infection.
	Copies of the source documents containing the advice/recommendations referred to above have been placed in the Library.
	(1 )Joint Working Party of the British Society of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, the Hospital Infection Society, and the Infection Control Nurses Association on MRSA.

Myotonic Dystrophy and Sexual Health: Funding

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether her Department plans to fund research into  (a) myotonic dystrophy and  (b) sexually transmitted diseases between 2006 and 2010; and if she will make a statement.

Andy Burnham: The Department's genetics programme is funding a four-year project on gene therapy for muscular dystrophy. The project is due to be completed the end of 2008.
	The Department supports a research programme on sexual health and HIV that is managed on its behalf by the Medical Research Council (MRC). In this way, the MRC is able to coordinate the work of the programme with its broader portfolio of national and international research on sexual health and HIV. The programme is set to continue—a recent tender has led to some40 applications for funding on which decisions will be made next year.
	The Department's national research programmes are funding a number of ongoing projects concerned with sexually transmitted disease. Details of these canbe found on the national research register at www.dh.gov.uk/research. The Department has also commissioned a two-year project to test access for screening and treatment of genital Chlamydia infection in a community pharmacy setting. Findings from the research will be available in late 2007.

National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence

Dai Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which recommendations made by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence have been rejected by her Department; and what the reasons for rejection were in each case.

Andy Burnham: The Department has not rejected any guidance made by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence to the NHS.

National Programme for Information Technology

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many projects undertaken as part of the National Programme for Information Technology have been delivered  (a) over budget,  (b) after their original deadline,  (c) on budget,  (d) under budget,  (e) on their original deadline and  (f) ahead of their original deadline.

Caroline Flint: There is no single national start or completion date for the national programme for information technology as a whole, or for its individual systems and services. The aim is to achieve substantial integration of health and social care information systems in England under the national programme by 2010. The approach, in line with best practice, is to implement new services incrementally, avoiding a big bang approach, and to provide increasingly richer functionality over time.
	Of the key centrally-funded programme projects, the first elements of the national health service care records service, to provide a transaction messaging service, a personal demographics service, a spine directory service and secure access controls via smartcards, went live on time and to budget in July 2004. The software to support choose and book is complete and went live on time and to budget, also in July 2004. The software to introduce the quality management and analysis system (QMAS) in support of the general medical services contract went live on time and to budget in August 2004 and was fully rolled out within three months, supporting payments to 100 per cent. of general practitioners (GPs) under the quality outcomes framework (QOF) every month since then. The software to allow electronic prescriptions to be issued went live on time and to budget in February 2005. The rate of connections to the new national broadband network (N3) has always been, and remains, ahead of schedule, and 98 per cent. of GPs now have a broadband connection.
	The first Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS) under the programme was implemented in April 2005 and 57 systems have been implemented to date with over 86 million digital images stored. NHSmail was implemented on time in October 2004 and currently has over 210,000 registered users sending 800,000 e-mails per day.
	Further details of progress towards delivery across the NHS of the centrally funded national infrastructure and services within the programme are contained in the National Audit Office (NAO)'s report published on 16 June 2006 which is available in the Library and via the NAO website at
	www.nao.org.uk/publications/nao_reports/05-06/05061173.pdf
	However, some local service deployments are late, as some suppliers and their subcontractors have taken longer than anticipated to deliver software. Local service provider (LSP) systems are between one and two years behind original plans. Delays are due in part to the great complexity of developing computer software but also other factors—the need to reach a consensus with stakeholders, including doctors and patients, about the detail of both the software and the operational framework of electronic health records. Significant levels of data corruption and concomitant problems in existing local systems have also impeded the take-up of the new systems. The cost of delays is met by suppliers, not the taxpayer.
	Though there have been delays, the programme is also delivering additional projects which were not part of the original scope of the programme. These include PACS, QMAS, the NHSmail email system, an IT system that will be used to invite people to take part in the bowel cancer-screening programme, andspecial enterprise-wide agreements by which NHS organisations can buy additional products and services at significantly discounted prices. In its first two years of implementation activity the programme has made more progress towards the objective of information being available throughout the NHS than had been achieved in the previous decade.
	As the NAO made clear in their report, the value of contracts let for the core components of the national programme over 10 years has not increased since the contracts were let in 2003 and 2004. None of the relevant project budgets managed by the Department's NHS Connecting for Health agency have been exceeded. Anticipated expenditure under these contracts remains at planned levels.

NHS Data Spine

Jeremy Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which commercial organisations have access to the NHS Data Spine; and for what purpose the organisations have access.

Caroline Flint: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to the hon. Member for Hornsey and Wood Green (Lynne Featherstone) on 29 November 2006,  Official Report, column 799W.

NHS Deficits

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the evidence given before the Health Committee on 21 November 2006, on NHS deficits (Question 793), what specific workforce targets were cascaded to strategic health authorities (SHA); and what assessment she has made of how each SHA has performed against such targets.

Rosie Winterton: The targets for General Practitioners and consultants contained in the national health service plan were broken into indicative delivery envelopes for the 28 strategic health authorities (SHAs). Nationally the targets were met in December 2003 and December 2004 respectively. Focus was on achievement of the national target rather than the SHA envelope.

NHS Drugs Budget

Andrew Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the expenditure has been on  (a) branded and  (b) generic drugs by (i) primary care trusts and(ii) strategic health authorities in each year for which records are available.

Andy Burnham: Information on the net ingredient cost of generic and branded drugs, together with appliances and dressings, by primary care trust (PCT) area in England for the years 2003 to 2005 has been placed in the Library.

NHS Finance

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what capital expenditure against budget underspend the NHS was forecasting in the 2006-07 financial year at month six  (a) in total and  (b) broken down by NHS organisation.

Andy Burnham: The total forecast charge against the capital resource limit for 2006-07, as reported by the national health service (NHS) at month six was£2,376 million. The total forecast underspend against the capital resource limit at month six was £147 million.
	A breakdown of the above figures has been placed in the Library.

NHS Finance

Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will provide funding to ameliorate the effects of historic debts of NHS organisations in Hertfordshire.

Andy Burnham: National health service organisations must live within their means, and it is not possible to write off debt when a particular organisation has failed to operate within its budget.
	It is the responsibility of strategic health authorities (SHAs) to deliver both overall financial balance for their local health communities and to ensure each and every body achieves financial balance. However, there is a degree of flexibility in how this is managed at a local level. SHAs can agree a recovery plan which phases the recovery of deficits over a number of years. This would require other NHS organisations within the health economy to under spend over the same period. Any such arrangements would have to be subject to the agreement of local providers, commissioners and the managing SHA.

NHS Patient Database

Andrew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what action has been taken to secure the proposed NHS patient database against computer hacking and other data theft.

Caroline Flint: All systems and services delivered through the national programme for information technology incorporate stringent security controls and safeguards to prevent unrestricted or uncontrolled access to personal information.
	Any attacker who had access to the N3 network would have to break through three separate layers of tiered architecture, each of which is protected by twin firewalls of different manufacture, in order to access the database. The firewalls are supported by intrusion detection systems, and other multiple security measures, which routinely monitor network traffic and alert on detection of suspicious activity.
	There are four separate levels of control to protect against the danger of data theft by a legitimate N3 user. The first is provided by the requirement that all users must have a smartcard. Smartcards are secure tokens that, together with a password, confirm the identity of staff and determine access rights to information. They are issued only when satisfactory evidence of identity and residence is provided in person by staff, and provide a unique digital identity that enables the system to know precisely who each user is. These arrangements conform with the e-Government Interoperability Framework (eGif) Level 3 standards for the registration and authentication of staff.
	The second control is that staff will only be able to access as much information as is needed for the purpose of their role within the healthcare team. For example, a receptionist will be able to see information about an appointment, but would not be able to look at detailed clinical records.
	The third control is that the system will not permit anyone to access clinical information unless they are registered within the system as working in a team that is providing the individual patient concerned with care, or are checking the quality of care provided. This safeguard is known as the 'legitimate relationship' safeguard.
	The fourth control is provided by staff who oversee compliance with security processes. A record is kept of user activity within the system. If an irregularity is suspected these staff will be alerted automatically and will investigate the incident.
	Over and above these implemented safeguards, the NHS maintains an effective liaison with the UK's information security authorities and others for the sharing of relevant advice and guidance on known information security threats and vulnerabilities.
	Together these safeguards will provide an unprecedented level of assurance compared with existing electronic systems.

NHS Pension Scheme

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the cost of employer contributions to the NHS pension scheme was in each year between 1990-91 and 2005-06; and if she will make a statement.

Rosie Winterton: Information from 1990-91 to 2004-05, the latest year that pension scheme accounts are available, is show in the following table. Increases in contributions in 2000-01 and 2001-02 reflect the phased increase in employers contributions following the 1994 valuation of the scheme, which was published in October 1998. The figures from 2003-04 include changes in relation to the Retail Price Indexation for existing pensioners for which funding was devolved from Her Majesty's Treasury to the Department of Health in 2003-04, and which was fully devolved to scheme employers from 2004-05. It is proposed as part of the review of the national health service (NHS) pension scheme that there will be a cap on employers' contributions of 14.2 per cent., from 2012, when the 2008 valuation is expected to be implemented, and of 14 per cent. from 2016.
	
		
			  Employer contributions 
			   £000 
			 1990-91 394,055 
			 1991-92 458,077 
			 1992-93 506,644 
			 1993-94 488,072 
			 1994-95 497,957 
			 1995-96 525,623 
			 1996-97 554,201 
			 1997-98 605,052 
			 1998-99 663,982 
			 1999-2000 723,950 
			 2000-01 925,169 
			 2001-02 1,504,273 
			 2002-03 1,632,536 
			 2003-04 3,588,337 
			 2004-05 3,890,167 
			  Source: Government Actuary's Department, appropriation accounts and NHS pension scheme resource accounts

NHS Posts

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many NHS posts have been  (a) lost and  (b) held open in the West Sussex Primary Care Trust area in each of the last three years.

Caroline Flint: This information is not collected centrally.

NHS Professionals

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people were recruited through NHS Professionals in each of the last five years for which information is available.

Ivan Lewis: NHS Professionals did not exist in its current form as a special health authority until April 2004.
	NHS Professionals recruited 13,000 people in 2004-05 and 15,000 in 2005-06.
	For the first six months of this year, over 6,600 hospital doctors and nursing staff have been recruited to the NHS Professionals bank.

NHS Projects

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will list the cases of cancellation of NHS projects costing over £5 million since 2001; and if she will make a statement.

Andy Burnham: To collect this information would incur disproportionate cost. All national health service trusts and the Department must report all abortive costs over £250,000 in value incurred in abandoned or scaled down projects in their annual report and accounts which are available locally.

NHS Trusts: Copyright Licences

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what advice Connecting for Health provides on copyright licences for NHS trusts.

Caroline Flint: A statement issued via the website of the National Library for Health advises that negotiations have been entered into with the Copyright Licensing Agency (CLA) in consideration of a single licensing agreement for all national health service bodies. NHS trusts are advised not to enter into individual discussions directly with the CLA while such negotiations are taking place.

NHS Trusts: Copyright Licences

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what her estimate is of the number of NHS trusts which hold copyright licences; and what the average cost of such licences is.

Caroline Flint: No information is collected centrally that would enable such an estimate to be made.

NHS Trusts: Copyright Licences

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment she has made of the possible liability of those NHS trusts which do not hold copyright licences in respect of copyright lawsuits brought against them.

Caroline Flint: No such assessment has been made. In the event that a national health service (NHS)-wide licensing arrangement with the Copyright Licensing Agency cannot be agreed, it will be the responsibility of individual NHS bodies to assess their legal obligations in relation to the relevant legislation, and to act accordingly.

NHS Vacancies

Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many unfilled NHS posts were held vacant in the Peterborough primary care trust (PCT) area and its predecessor PCT area in each year since 2001; and if she will make a statement.

Ivan Lewis: The information requested is not held centrally.

NICE-approved Treatments

Christopher Fraser: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps her Department is taking to ensure access to National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence-approved treatments for those with a clinical need.

Andy Burnham: We have ensured that compliance with National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidance features in the 'Standards for Better Health'.
	Interventional procedures guidance and technology appraisals from NICE are reflected respectively in core standards C3 and C5 of 'Standards for Better Health' published by the Department in July 2004. In addition clinical guidelines and public health guidance is covered by developmental standard D2. The Healthcare Commission published its first assessment of national health service trusts against these standards this year.
	The Department issued in 2001 a statutory direction that requires the NHS to provide funding within three months from the date of publication of all NICE technology appraisal guidance regardless of whether it relates to drugs or devices.

Office for Disability Issues

Jeremy Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many times the Under-Secretary of State with responsibility for Care Services has attended meetings of the Office for Disability Issues since its establishment.

Ivan Lewis: I have attended three Office for Disability Issues ministerial group meetings on "Improving Life Chances of Disabled People".

Parliamentary Questions

Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the Prime Minister's oral answer to my hon. Friend the Member for North-East Milton Keynes (Mr. Lancaster) of 22 November 2006,  Official Report, column 543, on engagements, to which area she was referring.

Caroline Flint: The Prime Minister was referring to the area covered by NHS south central area.

Payment by Results

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what contingency arrangements are in place for the suspension of payment by results in the event of a substantial public health emergency.

Andy Burnham: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health has an overarching duty to secure the provision of a health service in England and may make temporary or permanent changes to national guidance in pursuit of these obligations and to the extent provided for in law. For example, the code of conduct for payment by results includes provision for the Secretary of State to make in-year changes to the national tariff, at her discretion and in exceptional circumstances.

Pfizer and Alliance Unichem

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will list the occasions on which she has met representatives of  (a) Pfizer and  (b) Alliance Unichem in the last six months.

Andy Burnham: Ministerial colleagues and I regularly meet representatives from industry in the course of our duties as part of the process of policy development. However no official meetings with Pfizer and Alliance Unichem have taken place in the last six months.

Physical Activity Promotion Fund

Andrew Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when the Physical Activity Promotion Fund was established; how much has been allocated to it; and how many physical activity co-ordinators have been employed.

Caroline Flint: The physical activity promotion fund was announced in the "Choosing Health" White Paper in November 2004, to roll out evidence-based physical activity interventions. £55 million was allocated for 2006-07 and 2007-08 directly to primary care trusts for action on diet, physical activity and obesity.
	Regional physical activity co-ordinators are now employed across seven of the nine English regions. Although local arrangements differ for hosting and funding these posts, they are all based upon the role originally piloted in the North West of England.

Primary Care Trusts

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the enhanced service floor was for 2005-06, broken down by primary care trust (PCT); what she expects it to be in 2006-07, broken down by PCT; and what steps she will take to ensure that PCTs do not invest in enhanced services at a level below the enhanced service floor.

Rosie Winterton: Information detailing the enhanced service floors for 2005-06 and 2006-07 broken down by primary care trust has been placed in the Library.
	The enhanced services floor (ESF) is not a statutory requirement on PCTs but Ministers have made a commitment that a minimum level of expenditure for each PCT would be spent on enhanced services in a given financial year.
	Where PCTs may not be achieving expected levels of expenditure to meet their ESF, they should discuss the position with their local medical committee (LMC). Any local disputes regarding enhanced service investment in the new GMS contract should, if all local routes have been exhausted, be referred by strategic health authorities and LMCs to the national health service employers/general practitioners council (GPC) implementation co-ordination group (ICG).

Processed Food: Salt and Sodium Levels

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what representations  (a) her Department and  (b) the Food Standards Agency has received on the Food Standards Agency's recommendations on salt and sodium levels in processed food.

Caroline Flint: The Food Standards Agency received 75 responses from a wide range of stakeholders to its consultation on the voluntary salt reduction targets, which took place in 2005. These representations can be viewed on the FSA's website at www.food.gov.uk.
	Since publication of the targets in March 2006, the FSA and the Department have received a small number of letters from interested parties on the targets/work in this area.

Revenue Allocations

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the revenue allocations per unweighted head would be to each primary care trust in England in 2006-07 if additional need was given  (a) zero-weighting and  (b) half its current weighting in the hospital and community health services component of the weighted capitation formula.

Andy Burnham: The information for each primary care trust (PCT) their 2006-07 weighted capitation targets per unweighted head with 100 per cent. weighted,50 per cent. weighted and 0 per cent. weighted additional need in the hospital and community health services (HCHS) component of the weighted capitation formula has been placed in the Library.
	It is impossible to say with certainty what the equivalent 2006-07 revenue allocations would have been with different formulas. Actual allocations are determined by a pace of change policy which is based on a judgement about the appropriate level of increase for all PCTs and the level of increase for under target PCTs to move them closer to their weighted capitation target. A different pace of change policy may have been applied with a different set of distances from targets.

Sir Robert Peel Hospital

Brian Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many  (a) operations have been carried out and  (b) outpatients were treated at Sir Robert Peel Hospital in each of the last ten years.

Caroline Flint: The information requested is not held centrally.

Sir Robert Peel Hospital

Brian Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what the budget was at Sir Robert Peel Hospital in each of the last ten years;
	(2)  what the budget was at Good Hope hospital in each of the last 10 years in  (a) cash and  (b) real terms.

Caroline Flint: The information requested is not available in the format required. However, the total income and net operating costs for the Sir Robert Peel hospital and the Good Hope hospital are shown in the following table.
	
		
			  £000 
			   Sir Robert Peel Hospital  Good Hope Hospital 
			 Total  Good Hope hospital NHS trust 
			   South Staffordshire healthcare NHS trust  Burntwood, Lichfield and Tamworth primary care trust  Cash terms  Real terms  Cash terms  Real terms 
			 1998-99 81,298 n/a 81,298 95,710 62,510 73,591 
			 1999-2000 90,351 n/a 90,351 104,259 69,676 80,402 
			 2000-01 95,094 n/a 95,094 108,210 71,544 81,412 
			 2001-02 94,674 98,894 193,568 215,159 82,551 91,759 
			 2002-03 78,064 112,964 191,028 205,965 89,050 96,013 
			 2003-04 77,340 129,012 206,352 216,062 93,715 98,125 
			 2004-05 81,142 147,343 228,485 232,820 106,570 108,592 
			 2005-06 84,380 165,484 249,864 249,864 113,492 113,492 
			  Notes: South Staffordshire healthcare NHS trust only came into existence on 1 April 2001, as a result of merging the First Community NHS trust, the Foundation NHS trust and the Premier Health NHS trust. Figures shown before 2001-02 are combined for these three trusts.  Source: Audited summarisation schedules of the South Staffordshire healthcare NHS trust and its predecessor trusts 1998-99 to 2005-06. Audited summarisation schedules of the Good Hope hospital NHS Trust 1998-99 to 2005-06. Audited summarisation schedules of the Burntwood, Lichfield and Tamworth primary care trust 2001-02 to 2005-06. Treasury GDP Deflator used to provide the real terms figures, with 2005-06 as the baseline.

Social Marketing

Stephen Hesford: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what her current guidelines are on the use of social marketing in the NHS.

Caroline Flint: The national social marketing strategy is currently in development. A social marketing framework will be finalised in early 2007.

Spine Computer System

Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what action can be taken against patients who  (a) object to having and  (b) refuse to have their records stored on the NHS care records on the Spine computer system; and if she will make a statement.

Caroline Flint: Holding summary care records on the spine will deliver very significant benefits for safety and the efficient management of national health services. Patients whose record was not held on the spine, and who might need to be treated in the absence of knowledge of existing conditions, earlier treatments, and medications, would not receive the same quality of care as others.
	Patients who are concerned about their records being shared by other clinicians involved in their care will be able to choose to have the clinical information in their spine record flagged so that no-one can see it without their express permission.
	No action can or should be taken against patients who object to having their records stored on the spine. But some records need to be kept on the spine for all NHS patients and this is not a matter on which patients will be offered choice. However, this does not apply to all records and patients do have a qualified legal right under section 10 of the Data Protection Act 1998 to have objections considered. The Department will shortly be consulting on how best to give effect to this right in relation to the spine and other new IT systems and applications.

Sprycel: Dasatinib

Ian Gibson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether she intends to refer Sprycel (Dasatinib) to the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence for a health technology appraisal.

Andy Burnham: We currently have no plans to refer Sprycel (Dasatinib) to the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence for a health technology appraisal.

Suicide and Homicide: Mental Illness Inquiry

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  which sources were used to compile Avoidable Deaths: Five Year Report of the National Confidential Inquiry into suicide and homicide by people with mental illness;
	(2)  who the  (a) authors of and  (b) contributors to Avoidable Deaths: Five Year Report of the National Confidential Inquiry into suicide and homicide by people with mental illness were;
	(3)  what the terms of reference were for Avoidable Deaths: Five Year Report of the National Confidential Inquiry into suicide and homicide by people with mental illness;
	(4)  why Avoidable Deaths: Five Year Report of the National Confidential Inquiry into suicide and homicide by people with mental illness investigated  (a) suicides occurring between April 2000 and December 2004 and  (b) homicide cases occurring between April 1999 and December 2003; and if she will make a statement;
	(5)  who in her Department determined the terms of reference for Avoidable Deaths: Five Year Report of the National Confidential Inquiry into suicide and homicide by people with mental illness.

Rosie Winterton: "Avoidable Deaths", the five year report from the National Confidential Inquiry Into Suicide and Homicide by People With Mental Illness (NCI) is a product of the Centre for Suicide Prevention at the university of Manchester. The centre has been commissioned by the National Patient Safety Agency to investigate suicides, homicides and sudden unexplained deaths in mental health services and make recommendations on how they might be prevented. The Department's involvement is limited to representation on the NCI steering committee.
	The NCI issues its major reports in a five year cycle, with the time periods for each report continuing from the previous report. The report is written by the NCI team, currently headed by the director, Professor Louis Appleby, and the assistant directors Professor Jenny Shaw and Dr. Nav Kapur, head of homicide research and head of suicide research respectively.
	The data on all homicides is collected from the Home Office Homicide Index (HI). Where available, psychiatric reports prepared for the trial are obtained. Information on previous offences is collected from the National Crime Operations Faculty. Case details are submitted to mental health services in each individual's district of residence and adjacent districts to identify those with a history of using mental health services, including those with a lifetime contact. These individuals become inquiry cases and those cases with recent service contact (within 12 months of the offence) are analysed as the main sample.
	Information on inquiry cases is obtained from a questionnaire sent to the consultant psychiatrist within the applicable clinical team. For all homicide convictions, data are collected on methods and victims from the HI, including data on diminished responsibility and hospital orders. Data on mental illness at the time of offence comes from psychiatric reports prepared for the Crown Prosecution Service, including details of mental health, drug and alcohol use at the time of the offence. The questionnaire also provides data covering demographic details, clinical history, details of the homicide, details of in-patient/community care received, details of final contact with services, events leading to the homicide and respondents' views on prevention.
	Due to delays inherent in the notification procedures, homicide data were not complete for 2004, the final year of the study. Data on homicides in this report therefore cover the period April 1999 to December 2003, where they are more complete. Data on suicides are more complete for 2004, hence the report covers the period April 2000 to December 2004.

Tuberculosis

Philip Dunne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patients in England and Wales were diagnosed with tuberculosis in each year from 2001 to 2006, broken down by  (a) primary care trust and  (b) strategic health authority.

Caroline Flint: Annual data for primary care trusts (PCTs) from 2001 to 2003 existing in England in this period have been provided in a table that has been placed in the Library.
	The information requested from 2001 to 2005 for eight of 10 strategic health authorities (SHAs) is provided in the following table.
	
		
			  Tuberculosis case reports by SHA in England, 2001-05 
			  Number 
			  SHA  2001  2002  2003  2004  2005 
			 London 2,717 2,986 3,049 3,129 3,479 
			 West Midlands 713 807 810 912 937 
			 North West 652 649 592 588 757 
			 East Midlands 570 489 475 443 556 
			 Yorkshire and the Humber 563 514 547 544 579 
			 East of England 328 352 328 395 483 
			 North East 185 155 147 149 134 
			  Notes: i. Annual data for 2006 will not be available until 2007 ii. HPA regions are fully co-terminous with the Government Office regions, and are also co-terminous with SHAs, with the exception of the HPA South East region which covers both NHS South Central and NHS South East Coast SHAs. Aggregated data for NHS South Central and NHS South East Coast SHAs are available from the HPA website at: www.hpa.org.uk/infections/topics_az/tb/epidemiology/tablel5.htm iii. Wales does not have SHAs. iv. Aggregated data for Wales are available on the HPA website at: www.hpa.org.uk/infections/topics_az/tb/epidemiology/tablel5.htm  Source: Health Protection Agency (HPA) enhanced tuberculosis surveillance regional data.

Utility Bills

Jennifer Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  how much each NHS trust spent on gas bills in each year since 2001; what the average expenditure of NHS trusts was on gas bills in each year; and if she will make a statement;
	(2)  how much was spent, on average, on electricity by NHS trusts in each year since 2001; and if she will make a statement.

Andy Burnham: Information on the amount spent by each national health service trust on gas and electricity, purchased directly from national or regional utility suppliers, in each year since 2001 has been placed in the Library.
	The average cost per trust spent on gas and electricity purchased directly from national or regional utility suppliers, in each year since 2001 is in the following table.
	
		
			  Average cost per trust energy utility 
			  £000 
			   Electricity  Gas 
			 2001-02 250,420 207,074 
			 2002-03 203,958 169,625 
			 2003-04 210,945 180,100 
			 2004-05 259,262 226,566 
			 2005-06 365,938 351,840 
		
	
	The NHS purchasing and supply authority who provide advice and guidance on several different options for procuring these supplies purchase approximately 85 per cent. of gas and electricity for the NHS via centrally negotiated and arranged contracts.
	This information is as provided by NHS organisations without amendment. Since 2004-05, it has been provided on a voluntary basis and may therefore be incomplete.

Waiting Times

Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people had been waiting  (a) more than six months for in-hospital treatment and  (b) more than 13 weeks for an out-patient appointment in each trust area in London in each of the last 12 months for which figures are available; and if she will make a statement.

Andy Burnham: The information requested is shown in the table which has been placed in the Library.

Waiting Times

Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people were waiting for  (a) in-hospital treatment and  (b) out-patient appointments in each NHS trust area in London in each of the last12 months; and if she will make a statement.

Andy Burnham: The information requested is shown in the table which has been placed in the Library

West Hertfordshire NHS Trust

Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent assessment she has made of the financial situation of the West Hertfordshire NHS trust; and if she will make a statement.

Andy Burnham: The Department published the NHS financial performance for the second quarter of 2006-07 on the 9 November 2006. At quarter 2 West Hertfordshire hospitals national health service trust is forecasting a year end deficit of £11.5 million, this is an improvement of £6.5 million on their year end forecast reported at quarter 1.
	In the minority of NHS organisations with deficits, the targets we have set, for example on waiting times and access to cancer treatment are being met. The overall quality of services to patients continues to improve. However, we do not underestimate the tough decisions needed by a minority of organisations to restore financial balance.

West Hertfordshire NHS Trust

Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will conduct an inquiry into levels of debt within the West Hertfordshire NHS Trust.

Andy Burnham: The Audit Commission published in April 2006 a public interest report on the West Hertfordshire quadrant in the financial year 2005-06. The financial position of West Hertfordshire national health service trust was audited in this process and recommendations made.
	Our performance and turnaround teams continue to work with the most challenged NHS organisationsto reduce deficits and return NHS organisations to financial balance.

York Hospitals NHS Trust

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the  (a) average and  (b) maximum waiting time for (i) in-patient and (ii) day case admissions was at York Hospitals NHS Trust in each year since 1997-98.

Andy Burnham: The information requested is in the tables.
	
		
			  In-patients provider waiting list statistics for the York Hospitals Trust since 1998, day case admissions 
			In-patients waiting for admission by months waiting 
			  Quarter ending March:  Total waiting list  0 to less than 3 months  3 to less than 6 months  6 to less than 9 months  9 to less than 12 months  12 to less than 15 months  15 to less than 18 months  18+ months  Median (weeks) 
			 1998 5,485 2,496 1,227 877 647 191 47 0 15.6 
			 1999 4,236 2,228 1,075 655 278 0 0 0 12.4 
			 2000 3,864 1,850 1,075 695 243 1 0 0 14.0 
			 2001 3,663 1694 909 654 406 0 0 0 15.0 
			 2002 3,485 1,610 947 585 343 0 0 0 14.8 
			 2003 3,745 1,822 983 583 357 0 0 0 13.7 
			 2004 3,336 1,858 993 485 0 0 0 0 11.7 
		
	
	
		
			Waiting for 
			  Quarter ending March:  Total waiting list  Less than 1 month  1 to <2 months  2 to <3 months  3 to <4 months  4 to <5 months 
			 2005 3,099 753 676 498 373 337 
			 2006 2,977 847 707 516 383 347 
		
	
	
		
			   Waiting for 
			  Quarter ending March:  5 to <6 months  6 to <7 months  7 to <8 months  8 to <9 months  9+ months  Median (weeks) 
			 2005 211 148 69 34 0 9.7 
			 2006 177 0 0 0 0 8.3 
		
	
	
		
			Waiting for 
			  Quarter ending September:  Total waiting list  Less than 1 week  1 to <2 weeks  2 to <3 weeks  3 to <4 weeks  4 to <5 weeks  5 to <6 weeks  6 to <7 weeks  7 to <8 weeks 
			 2006 2,755 207 218 168 162 183 175 142 115 
		
	
	
		
			   Waiting for 
			  Quarter ending September:  8 to <9 weeks  9 to <10 weeks  10 to <11 weeks  23 to <24 weeks  24 to <25 weeks  25 to <26 weeks  26+ weeks  Median (weeks) 
			 2006 141 118 116 23 26 37 0 8.1 
		
	
	
		
			Waiting for 
			  Quarter ending September:  Total waiting list  11 to <12 weeks  12 to <13 weeks  13 to <14 weeks  14 to <15 weeks  15 to <16 weeks  16 to <17 weeks 
			 2006 1,493 90 97 74 107 88 72 
		
	
	
		
			   Waiting for 
			  Quarter ending September:  17 to <18 weeks  18 to <19 weeks  19 to <20 weeks  20 to <21 weeks  21 to <22 weeks  22 to <23 weeks 
			 2006 59 88 78 71 47 53 
		
	
	
		
			Waiting for 
			  Quarter ending September:  Total waiting list  23 to <24 weeks  24 to <25 weeks  25 to <26 weeks  26+ weeks  Median (weeks) 
			 2006 1,493 23 26 37 0 8.1 
			  Notes: 1. The format of the collection has changed since 1997 where the time bands were collected in months. 2. Time bands of patients waiting are now collected in weeks. 3. The shortest waiting time is represented by the shortest time band collected and similarly the longest waiting time is represented by the longest time band collected.  Source: Department of Health KH07.

York Hospitals NHS Trust

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many  (a) out-patients and  (b) in and day case patients were treated per day on average by York Hospitals NHS Trust, excluding those specialties transferred to the primary care trust, in each year since 1992; and what the figures are for 2006 to date.

Andy Burnham: The information is not available in the format requested. The Department has no local information on what specialities have been transferred to primary care trusts. In addition, the Department is unable to extract the average number of patients treated per day. The table placed in the Library therefore shows the count of finished consultant episodes for ordinary and day case admissions at York Hospitals NHS Trust in each year since 1992.

York Hospitals NHS Trust

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many finished consultant episodes there were in each specialty at York Hospitals NHS Trust in each year since 1992.

Andy Burnham: The information requested is shown in the following tables.
	
		
			  Count of finished consultant episodes by main speciality at York Hospitals NHS Trust in each year since 1992 
			   Main specialty  2004-05  2003-04  2002-03  2001-02  2000-01  1999-00  1998-99 
			 & Not Known — — — — — — — 
			 100 General Surgery 8.972 8,727 8,034 7.440 7.493 7,620 7,618 
			 101 Urology 5,326 5.345 4.817 4,719 4,860 4,432 4,441 
			 110 Trauma and Orthopaedics 5,548 5,566 5.158 4,649 4,660 4,468 4,560 
			 120 Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) 2,075 2,041 2,050 2.301 2,193 2,166 2,134 
			 130 Ophthalmology 3,134 2.534 2,290 2.272 2.253 2.288 2.175 
			 140 Oral Surgery 1,491 1,409 1.354 1.223 1.244 1.368 1.351 
			 141 Restorative Dentistry — — — 339 336 333 364 
			 142 Paediatric Dentistry — — — — — — — 
			 143 Orthodontics — — — — — — — 
			 145 Oral and Maxillo Facial Surgery — — — — — — — 
			 145 Neurosurgery — — — — — — — 
			 160 Plastic Surgery — — * — — — — 
			 170 Cardiothoracic Surgery — — — — — — * 
			 171 Paediatric Surgery Accident — — — — — — — 
			 180 Accident and Emergency (A and E) 356 7 29 * — 134 460 
			 190 Anaesthetics 1,900 1,879 1,882 1,918 1,906 2,292 2,469 
			 192 Critical Care Medicine — — — — — — — 
			 199 Non-UK Provider; specialty function not known, treatment mainly: — — — — — — — 
			 300 General Medicine 18,003 16,536 15,561 14,076 12,888 12,002 11,592 
			 301 Gastroenterology — — — — — — — 
			 302 Endocrinology — — — — — — — 
			 303 Clinical Haematology — — — — — — — 
			 304 Clinical Physiology — — — — — — — 
			 305 Clinical Pharmacology — — — — — — — 
			 310 Audiological Medicine — — — — — — — 
			 311 Clinical Genetics — — — — — — — 
			 313 Clinical Immunology and Allergy — — — — — — — 
			 314 Rehabilitation — — — — — — — 
			 315 Palliative Medicine — — — — — — — 
			 320 Cardiology — — — — — — — 
			 321 Paediatric Cardiology — — — — — — — 
			 330 Dermatology 49 62 75 103 127 148 170 
			 340 Thoracic Medicine — — — — — — — 
			 350 Infectious Diseases — — — — — — — 
			 352 Tropical Medicine — — — — — — — 
			 360 Genito-urinary Medicine — * — — — — — 
			 361 Nephrology — — — — — — — 
			 370 Medical Oncology 166 165 190 269 348 126 * 
			 371 Nuclear Medicine — — — — — — — 
			 400 Neurology 508 670 520 510 429 397 404 
			 401 Clinical Neuro-physiology — — — — — — — 
			 410 Rheumatology 233 256 172 184 190 265 318 
			 420 Paediatrics 4,898 4,651 4,124 4,158 3,908 4,168 3,741 
			 421 Paediatric Neurology — — — — — — — 
			 430 Geriatric Medicine 9,316 7,758 6,160 5,448 5,216 5,021 5,254 
			 450 Dental Medicine Specialties — — — — — — — 
			 460 Medical Ophthalmology — — — — — — — 
			 501 Obstetrics — — — — — — — 
			 502 Gynaecology 10,664 9,738 9,310 9,463 9,312 9,306 13,257 
			 560 Midwife episode — — — — — — — 
			 601 General Dental Practice — — — — — — — 
			 700 Learning Disability (previously MH) — — — 46 35 40 38 
			 710 Adult Mental Illness — — — 614 686 694 904 
			 711 Child and Adolescent Psychiatry — — — 53 50 48 42 
			 712 Forensic Psychiatry — — — — — — — 
			 713 Psychotherapy — — — — — — — 
			 715 Old Age Psychiatry612 616 685 663 
			 800 Clinical Oncology (previously Radiotherapy) — — — — — — — 
			 810 Radiology — * * — — * * 
			 820 General Pathology — — — — — — — 
			 821 Blood Transfusion — — — — — — — 
			 822 Chemical Pathology 214 40 38 80 80 190 121 
			 823 Haematology — — — — — — — 
			 824 Histopathology — — — — — * — 
			 830 Immunopathology — — — — — — — 
			 831 Medical Microbiology — — — — — — — 
			 900 Community Medicine — — — — — — — 
			 901 Occupational Medicine — — — — — — — 
			 902 Community Health Services Dental — — — — — — — 
			 950 Nursing episode — — — — — — — 
			 901 Occupational Medicine — — — — — — — 
			 902 Community Health Services — — — — — — — 
			 950 Nursing episode — — — — — — — 
		
	
	
		
			   Main specialty  1997-98  1996-97  1995-96  1994-95  1993-94  1992-93 
			 & Not Known   
			 100 General Surgery 6,929 7.290 7.586 6.113 5.756 5.761 
			 101 Urology 4,319 4,390 4,202 3.799 3,788 3.199 
			 110 Trauma and Orthopaedics 4.274 4,375 4.439 4.618 4.575 4,449 
			 120 Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) 1.833 2.211 1.959 1,674 1.535 1,673 
			 130 Ophthalmology 1.885 1,923 1.731 1,590 1.581 1,271 
			 140 Oral Surgery 1.268 1.215 1.093 1.118 729 701 
			 141 Restorative Dentistry 397 422 360 381 273 48 
			 142 Paediatric Dentistry — — — — — — 
			 143 Orthodontics — — — — — — 
			 145 Oral and Maxillo Facial Surgery — — — — — — 
			 160 Plastic Surgery — — — — — — 
			 170 Cardiothoracic Surgery — — — — — — 
			 171 Paediatric Surgery Accident — — — — — — 
			 180 Accident and Emergency (A and E) 731 1.361 1.163 1.481 1.620 1.763 
			 190 Anaesthetics 2.345 1.174 648 628 643 556 
			 192 Critical Care Medicine — — — — — — 
			 199 Non-UK Provider; specialty function not known, treatment mainly: — — — — — — 
			 300 General Medicine 10.961 10.604 9.542 8.819 7.767 7.012 
			 301 Gastroenterology — — — — — — 
			 302 Endocrinology — — — — — — 
			 303 Clinical Haematology 1,043 814 384 — — — 
			 304 Clinical Physiology — — — — — — 
			 305 Clinical Pharmacology — — — — — — 
			 310 Audiological Medicine — — — — — — 
			 311 Clinical Genetics — — — — — — 
			 313 Clinical Immunology and Allergy — — — — — — 
			 314 Rehabilitation — — — — — — 
			 315 Palliative Medicine — — — — — — 
			 320 Cardiology — — — — — — 
			 321 Paediatric Cardiology — — — — — — 
			 330 Dermatology 113 132 142 336 327 389 
			 340 Thoracic Medicine — — — — — — 
			 350 Infectious Diseases — — — — — — 
			 352 Tropical Medicine — — — — — — 
			 360 Genito-urinary Medicine * — — — — — 
			 361 Nephrology — — — — — — 
			 370 Medical Oncology * — — — — — 
			 371 Nuclear Medicine — — — — — — 
			 400 Neurology 409 441 307 345 385 389 
			 401 Clinical Neuro-physiology — — — — — — 
			 410 Rheumatology 351 290 230 255 249 265 
			 420 Paediatrics 3.321 3.291 3.125 2.031 2,135 2.222 
			 421 Paediatric Neurology — — — — — — 
			 430 Geriatric Medicine 4,561 4.311 3.861 3,661 3.693 3.001 
			 450 Dental Medicine Specialties — — — — — — 
			 460 Medical Ophthalmology — — — — — — 
			 501 Obstetrics — — 7.656 7.175 — 6,542 
			 502 Gynaecology 13,471 13,572 5.521 5.068 12,657 5,319 
			 560 Midwife episode — — — — — — 
			 601 General Dental Practice — — — — — — 
			 700 Learning Disability (previously MH) 42 76 14 32 41 118 
			 710 Adult Mental Illness 874 993 913 815 902 1.052 
			 711 Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 44 53 62 35 46 61 
			 712 Forensic Psychiatry — — — — — — 
			 713 Psychotherapy — — — — — — 
			 715 Old Age Psychiatry 643 677 710 742 656 598 
			 800 Clinical Oncology (previously Radiotherapy) — * — * — — 
			 810 Radiology   96 109 90 26 
			 820 General Pathology — — —— — — — 
			 821 Blood Transfusion — — —— — — — 
			 822 Chemical Pathology 72 67 * — — — 
			 823 Haematology309 282 304 
			 824 Histopathology — — — — — — 
			 830 Immunopathology — — — — — — 
			 831 Medical Microbiology — — — — — — 
			 900 Community Medicine — — — — — — 
			 901 Occupational Medicine — — — — — — 
			 902 Community Health Services Dental — — — — — — 
			 950 Nursing episode — — — — — — 
			 901 Occupational Medicine — — — — — — 
			 902 Community Health Services — — — — — — 
			 950 Nursing episode — — — — — — 
			  Notes:  Finished Consultant Episode (FCE) An FCE is defined as a period of admitted patient care under one consultant within one healthcare provider. Please note that the figures do not represent the umber of patients, as a person may have more than one episode within the year.  Speciality Care is needed when analysing HES data by speciality, or by groups of specialities (such as Acute). Trusts have different ways of managing specialities and attributing codes so it is better to analyse by specific diagnoses, operations or other recorded information.  Ungrossed Data Figures have not been adjusted for shortfalls in data (i.e. the data are ungrossed).  Low Numbers Due to reasons of confidentiality, figures between one and five have been suppressed and replaced with "*"(an asterisk).  Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), The Information Center for Health and Social Care

TREASURY

2012 Olympics

Mark Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether his Department approved the decision by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to commission a report by KPMG into the cost of the 2012 Olympics.

John Healey: No. This is a matter for DCMS.

2012 Olympics

Mark Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  pursuant to the answer of 4 December 2006,  Official Report, column 210W, on the Olympics, how many staff in his Department's Public Services and Growth Directorate spend more than 70 per cent. of their time on work related to the 2012 Olympics; and what the pay band is of each such staff member;
	(2)  how many staff in his Department have work objectives that make reference to the Olympics; and what the pay band is of each such staff member.

John Healey: Work on the Olympics cuts across a number of Treasury directorates and a large number of policy teams' and officials' objectives.

Annuities

Paul Holmes: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  whether options are available to  (a) non-religious people and  (b) people of religions other than Plymouth Brethren who seek to opt out of annuities;
	(2)  what assessment he has made of the compatibility of the provision of alternatively secured pensions with human rights legislation;
	(3)  what mechanisms are in place to prevent abuse of alternatively secured pensions; and what evidence of such abuse he has collected;
	(4)  what religions other than Plymouth Brethren qualify for alternatively secured pensions;
	(5)  what guidance his Department has issued to tax accountants as to how they certify clients' religious objections to annuities.

Edward Balls: The 2006 pre-Budget report announced changes to the pensions tax regime for alternatively secured pensions (ASP) with effect from 6 April 2007.
	There will be a requirement to withdraw a minimum level of income each year from an ASP fund, the maximum annual withdrawal limit from an ASP fund will be increased and the facility to transfer funds on death as a lump sum to pension funds of other members in the scheme will be removed from the authorised payment rules. Further details are in pre-Budget report note 13 available at
	http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/pbr2006/pbrn13.pdf
	These proposals will bring practice and policy intention into line and provide a fair balance between meeting the needs of those with principled religious objections to annuitisation and the needs of the wider public.
	Published alongside the pre-Budget report, is a document: The annuities market, which clearly sets out the Government's position regarding annuities in general and ASPs in particular.

Child Trust Fund

Jon Cruddas: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the take-up has been of the Child Trust Fund, broken down by  (a) social class and  (b) region.

Edward Balls: The latest set of Child Trust Fund statistics showing UK-wide information was published byHM Revenue and Customs on 29 September at www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/child_trust_funds/child-trust-funds.htm—these show that over 75 per cent. of parents are using their child's voucher to open a Child Trust Fund account.
	Child Trust Fund information on take up at constituency level will be available early next year. A detailed distributional analysis of the Child Trust Fund looking at take up by income group will also be published in 2007.

Departmental Energy Policy

Brian Jenkins: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he plans to make his Department carbon neutral.

John Healey: HM Treasury has signed up to the Government-wide target to achieve carbon neutrality across the central Government office estate by 2012.

Departmental Staff

Mark Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 23 November 2006,  Official Report, column 206W, on departmental staff, how many of the total civil service staff for each period given were frontline professionals as defined in the Gershon Report.

John Healey: Due to the wide variety of work carried out by the civil service, there is no single central definition of 'front line'. The Gershon Review discussed reallocations to front-line posts in the context of workforce reforms being undertaken in the Department for Work and Pensions and Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs as part of their respective efficiency programmes. It is for these departments to decide to which posts these reallocations will take place.

Financial Ombudsman Service

Martyn Jones: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many bank-related services complaints were received by the Financial Ombudsman Service about  (a) mortgage products,  (b) current accounts,  (c) credit cards,  (d) loans other than mortgages,  (e) other banking services and  (f) savings and deposit accounts in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement.

Edward Balls: The following table shows the number of bank related services complaints that have been received by the Financial Ombudsman Service in each category.
	
		
			   To year ending 31 March 
			   2002  2003  2004  2005  2006 
			 Mortgage products 3,876 9,438 3,220 3,001 3,942 
			 Current accounts 1,280 1,602 2,106 2,521 3,543 
			 Credit cards 372 864 1,444 1,599 2,124 
			 Loans other than mortgages 556 933 1,116 1,133 1,507 
			 Other banking services (which includes: cheque clearing, money transfer, cash machines) 803 1,485 1,106 1,083 1,360 
			 Savings and deposit accounts 1,230 748 806 1,154 1,233

Foreign Visits

Mark Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what foreign visits have been undertaken by Office of Government Commerce staff on official business in the last 12 months; what the total cost was of each visit; and how much of that sum was accounted for by  (a) travel expenses,  (b) expenses claimed and  (c) accommodation in each case.

John Healey: OGC staff have undertaken a total of 85 overseas trips in the last 12 months, from December 2005 to December 2006, at a total cost to OGC of £71,000. That total has been broken down into travel costs and subsistence costs below, but to break down the cost into individual visits could be done only at disproportionate costs.
	
		
			   £000 
			 Travel costs 57 
			 Subsistence 14 
			 Total cost 71

HM Revenue and Customs Boat Sector

Robert Key: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many intelligence officers are  (a) employed by HM Revenue and Customs and  (b) assigned to the uncanalised yacht and pleasure craft sector of HM Revenue and Customs' responsibilities.

John Healey: In September 2006 Intelligence became part of a new Risk and Intelligence Directorate and currently deploys 1200 staff.
	It is not possible to extract the specific numbers of staff assigned to the uncanalised yacht and pleasure craft sector for the reasons given in the written answer by the Paymaster General on 19 July 2006,  Official Report, column 521W, to my hon. Friend the Member for Stroud (Mr. Drew).

HM Revenue and Customs Contact Centres

Iain Wright: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether Revenue and Customs (HMRC) contact centres undertake work on behalf of private companies; whether HMRC receives financial incentives for the volume of calls processed  (a) from his Department and  (b) private companies; and if he will make a statement.

John Healey: HMRC contact centres undertake no work on behalf of private companies nor does HMRC receive any financial incentives for the volume of calls processed.

HM Revenue and Customs Surveys

Vincent Cable: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  how much was spent by HM Revenue and Customs on the survey Welsh do it online for Christmas; and why the survey was commissioned;
	(2)  how much was spent by HM Revenue and Customs on the survey Scots go online for Christmas;
	(3)  what the total cost was of the recent survey UK's web users invest time online, commissioned by HM Revenue and Customs was; and what purpose it served;
	(4)  for what purpose the survey South West Web Users Invest Time Online was commissioned; and what its total cost was;
	(5)  for what purposes HM Revenue and Customs commissioned the survey Scots go online for Christmas (HMRC release 1 December 2006).

John Healey: The total cost to HM Revenue and Customs of the survey was £4,425.
	The survey was conducted nationally and the purpose it served was to gain an insight into taxpayers needs and behaviours around filing and payment of self assessment.

IT Projects

Vincent Cable: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many information technology projects within the responsibility of his Department, its agencies and their predecessors have been cancelled since 1997; what the total cost was of each project at cancellation; and if he will make a statement.

John Healey: No information technology projects within the Royal Mint, the Valuation Office Agency, the Debt Management Office, the Government Actuary's Department, National Savings and Investments and the Office for National Statistics have been cancelled since 1997.
	No information technology projects within HM Treasury have been cancelled since 2003. Information prior to 2003 is not held in the form requested, and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
	No information technology projects within the Office of Government Commerce or for OGC.buying.solutions have been cancelled since 2001. Information prior to 2001 for OGC and its predecessor organisation, the Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
	HMRC cancelled an element of the Child Trust Fund (CTF) project when it was determined that this element was not necessary for the implementation of CTF and was not a strategic value for money project in its own right. However, a first release of this element was successfully developed and deployed. This release was critical for the smooth implementation and ongoing running of the Child Trust Fund project. The cost at cancellation for 2004-05 was £5.532 million and for 2005-06 £9.818 million.

Middle East

James Duddridge: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much time officials from his Department have spent in  (a) Israel and  (b) the Occupied Palestinian Territories on official business in each of the last three years; and at what cost.

John Healey: In the last three years, Treasury officials have made a small number of short visits to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, including in support of the Chancellor's visit to Israel last year. Finding the precise information requested would involve disproportionate costs.

Mortality Statistics

David Drew: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the mortality rate was of  (a) men and  (b) women in Stroud district in each year since 1991.

John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician who has been asked to reply.
	 Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 13 December 2006:
	As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent question asking what the mortality rate was of (a) men and (b) women in Stroud in each year since 1991. (105504)
	The table below provides the age-standardised mortality rate for (a) men and (b) women in Stroud local authority for the years 1991 to 2005 (the latest available).
	
		
			  Table 1: Age-standardised mortality rates( 1) , Stroud local authority, 1991-2005( 2) 
			  Deaths per 100,000 
			   Males  Females 
			 1991 879 515 
			 1992 815 556 
			 1993 899 559 
			 1994 843 526 
			 1995 844 591 
			 1996 892 521 
			 1997 769 549 
			 1998 827 524 
			 1999 780 550 
			 2000 791 545 
			 2001 705 538 
			 2002 719 515 
			 2003 715 518 
			 2004 655 474 
			 2005 680 455 
			 (1) Age-standardised mortality rates per 100,000 population, standardised to the European Standard Population. Age-standardised rates are used to allow comparison between populations which may contain different proportions of people of different ages. (2) Using local authority boundaries as of 2005 for deaths for all years shown.

Mortality Statistics

David Drew: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the  (a) diagnosis and  (b) mortality rate was for (i) chronic lung disease, (ii) coronary heart disease and (iii) cancer in Stroud district in each year since 1991.

John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician who has been asked to reply.
	 Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 13 December 2006:
	As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent question asking what the  (a) diagnosis and  (b) mortality rate was for (i) chronic lung disease, (ii) coronary heart disease and (iii) cancer in Stroud district in each year since 1991. (105505)
	Figures on the incidence of chronic lung disease and coronary heart disease are not readily available. The tables below provide  (a) the age-standardised cancer incidence rate in Stroud local authority for the years 1991 to 2004 (the latest available), and  (b) the age-standardised mortality rates for (i) chronic lung disease, (ii) coronary heart disease and (iii) cancer in Stroud local authority for the years 1991 to 2005 (the latest available).
	
		
			  Table 1: Age-standardised cancer incidence rates( 1,2) , Stroud local authority( 3) , 1990-2004 
			   Cases per 100,000 
			 1990 296 
			 1991 306 
			 1992 346 
			 1993 305 
			 1994 298 
			 1995 334 
			 1996 284 
			 1997 348 
			 1998 392 
			 1999 405 
			 2000 375 
			 2001 394 
			 2002 314 
			 2003 325 
			 2004 377 
			 (1 )Age-standardised cancer registration rates per 100,000 population, standardised to the European Standard Population. Age-standardised rates are used to allow comparison between populations which may contain different proportions of people of different ages. (2) For data prior to 1995, International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9) codes 140-208 excluding non-melanoma skin cancer code 173. For data from 1995 onwards, International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) codes COO-C97 excluding non-melanoma skin cancer code C44. (3 )Using local authority boundaries as of 2005 for cancer registrations for all years shown. 
		
	
	
		
			  Table 2: Age-standardised mortality rates for chronic lung disease, coronary heart disease and cancer( 1,2) , Stroud local authority, 1991-2005( 3) 
			  Deaths per 100,000 
			   Chronic lung disease  Coronary heart disease  Cancer 
			 1991 28 175 172 
			 1992 28 160 185 
			 1993 29 169 182 
			 1994 30 159 180 
			 1995 21 167 191 
			 1996 25 144 159 
			 1997 21 133 167 
			 1998 31 136 157 
			 1999 31 143 161 
			 2000 26 123 181 
			 2001 22 121 179 
			 2002 28 132 164 
			 2003 29 107 180 
			 2004 20 98 152 
			 2005 24 83 163 
			 (1) Age-standardised mortality rates per 100,000 population, standardised to the European Standard Population. Age-standardised rates are used to allow comparison between populations which may contain different proportions of people of different ages. (2) Cause of death was defined using the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9) for 1991-2000 (codes 490-494 and 496 for chronic lung disease, 410-414 for coronary heart disease, 140-208 for cancer), and Tenth Revision (ICD-10) for 2001-2005 (codes J40-J47 for chronic lung disease, 120-125 for coronary heart disease, C00-C97 for cancer). The introduction of ICD-10 in 2001 means that the numbers of deaths from each cause before 2001 are not completely comparable with later years. (3 )Using local authority boundaries as of 2005 for deaths for all years shown.

Mortality Statistics

David Drew: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer what the main causes of death were for  (a) men and  (b) women in the Stroud district in each of the last 15 years.

John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
	 Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 13 December 2006:
	As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent question asking what the main causes of death were for (a) men and (b) women living in the Stroud district in each of the last 15 years. (105506)
	The tables below list the main causes of death for (a) males and (b) females in the years 1991 to 2005 (the latest year available) in Stroud local authority.
	
		
			  Table 1. Main causes of death( 1)  classified according to the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9), males, Stroud local authority( 2) ,1991 to 2000( 3) 
			   Years when this was a main cause of death for males 
			  Cause of death( 4)  1991  1992  1993  1994  1995  1996 
			 Acute but ill-defined cerebrovascular disease (stroke) * * * * * * 
			 Acute myocardial infarction (heart attack) * * * * * * 
			 Aortic aneurysm (rupture of aortic artery) * — * * — — 
			 Atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries) * — — — — — 
			 Bronchopneumonia, organism unspecified * * * * * * 
			 Chronic airways obstruction, not elsewhere classified * * * * * * 
			 Diabetes mellitus — — * — — — 
			 Heart failure — — — — — — 
			 Intracerebral haemorrhage — — — — — — 
			 Malignant neoplasm (cancer) of colon * * * * * * 
			 Malignant neoplasm (cancer) of oesophagus — — — — * — 
			 Malignant neoplasm (cancer) of pancreas — — — — — — 
			 Malignant neoplasm (cancer) of prostate * * * * * * 
			 Malignant neoplasm (cancer) of trachea, bronchus and lung * * * * * * 
			 Malignant neoplasm (cancer) without specification of site — * — — — — 
			 Occlusion of cerebral arteries * — — * — — 
			 Other and ill-defined cerebrovascular disease — — — — — — 
			 Other forms of chronic ischaemic heart disease * * * * * * 
			 Parkinson's disease * — — — — — 
			 Pneumonia, organism unspecified — — — — — — 
			 Senile and presenile organic psychotic conditions — — * — — * 
			 Senility without mention of psychosis — — * — — * 
		
	
	
		
			   Years when this was a main cause of death for males  
			  Cause of death( 4)  1997  1998  1999  2000  ICD-9 code 
			 Acute but ill-defined cerebrovascular disease (stroke) * * * * 436 
			 Acute myocardial infarction (heart attack) * * * * 410 
			 Aortic aneurysm (rupture of aortic artery) * * — * 441 
			 Atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries) — — — — 440 
			 Bronchopneumonia, organism unspecified * * * * 485 
			 Chronic airways obstruction, not elsewhere classified * * * * 496 
			 Diabetes mellitus — — — — 250 
			 Heart failure — — — * 428 
			 Intracerebral haemorrhage — — — — 431 
			 Malignant neoplasm (cancer) of colon * — * * 153 
			 Malignant neoplasm (cancer) of oesophagus — — — — 150 
			 Malignant neoplasm (cancer) of pancreas * — * — 157 
			 Malignant neoplasm (cancer) of prostate * * * * 185 
			 Malignant neoplasm (cancer) of trachea, bronchus and lung * * * * 162 
			 Malignant neoplasm (cancer) without specification of site * * * * 199 
			 Occlusion of cerebral arteries — — — — 434 
			 Other and ill-defined cerebrovascular disease — — — * 437 
			 Other forms of chronic ischaemic heart disease * * * * 414 
			 Parkinson's disease — — — — 332 
			 Pneumonia, organism unspecified * * * — 486 
			 Senile and presenile organic psychotic conditions * * * — 290 
			 Senility without mention of psychosis — * — — 797 
			 (1) Causes of death which were recorded as the underlying cause in at least 10 male deaths registered in the year in question. These causes accounted for 61 per cent of all male deaths in Stroud local authority in 1991-2005. (2) Based on the boundaries of Stroud local authority as of 2005 for all years. (3) Cause of death was defined using the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9) for the years 1991 to 2000, and Tenth Revision (ICD-10) for the years 2001 to 2005. (4) The words in brackets have been added for clarity and are not part of the International Classification of Diseases. 
		
	
	
		
			  Table 2. Main causes of death( 1)  classified according to the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10), males, Stroud local authority( 2) , 2001 to 2005( 3) 
			   Years when this was a main cause of death for males  
			  Cause of death( 4)  2001  2002  2003  2004  2005  ICD-10 code 
			 Acute myocardial infarction (heart attack) * * * * * 121 
			 Aortic aneurysm and dissection (rupture of aortic artery) — — — * — 171 
			 Cerebral infarction (stroke) — — — — * I63 
			 Chronic ischaemic heart disease * * * * * I25 
			 Heart failure — * — — — 150 
			 Intracerebral haemorrhage — — * — — 161 
			 Malignant neoplasm (cancer) of bronchus and lung * * * * * C34 
			 Malignant neoplasm (cancer) of colon * * — * * C18 
			 Malignant neoplasm (cancer) of oesophagus — — — — * C15 
			 Malignant neoplasm (cancer) of pancreas — — * — — C25 
			 Malignant neoplasm (cancer) of prostate * * * * * C61 
			 Malignant neoplasm (cancer) of stomach * — — — — C16 
			 Malignant neoplasm (cancer) without specification of site * — * — — C80 
			 Other and unspecified types of non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma — — * — — C85 
			 Other cerebrovascular diseases — * * * * I67 
			 Other chronic obstructive pulmonary (lung) disease * * * * * J44 
			 Parkinson's disease — * — — — G20 
			 Pneumonia, organism unspecified * * * * * J18 
			 Senility — — — — * R54 
			 Stroke, not specified as haemorrhage or infarction * * * * * I64 
			 Unspecified dementia * * * * * F03 
			 Unspecified diabetes mellitus * — — — — E14 
			 (1) Causes of death which were recorded as the underlying cause in at least 10 male deaths registered in the year in question. These causes accounted for 61 per cent. of all male deaths in Stroud local authority in 1991-2005. (2) Based on the boundaries of Stroud local authority as of 2005 for all years. (3) Cause of death was defined using the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9) for the years 1991 to 2000, and Tenth Revision (ICD-10) for the years 2001 to 2005. (4) The words in brackets have been added for clarity and are not part of the International Classification of Diseases. 
		
	
	
		
			  Table 3. Main causes of death( 1)  classified according to the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9), females, Stroud local authority( 2) ,1991 to 2000( 3) 
			   Years when this was a main cause of death for females 
			  Cause of death( 4)  1991  1992  1993  1994  1995  1996 
			 Acute but ill-defined cerebrovascular disease (stroke) * * * * * * 
			 Acute myocardial infarction (heart attack) * * * * * * 
			 Acute pulmonary heart disease — — — — — — 
			 Aortic aneurysm (rupture of aortic artery) — * — * — — 
			 Atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries) — * * * * — 
			 Bronchopneumonia, organism unspecified * * * * * * 
			 Chronic airways obstruction, not elsewhere classified — * * * — — 
			 Diabetes mellitus — — — — — — 
			 Heart failure — — * * * * 
			 Ill-defined descriptions and complications of heart disease — — — — — — 
			 Intracerebral haemorrhage — — — — — — 
			 Malignant neoplasm (cancer) of colon * * * * * — 
			 Malignant neoplasm (cancer) of female breast * * * * * * 
			 Malignant neoplasm (cancer) of ovary and other uterine adnexa — — — — — * 
			 Malignant neoplasm (cancer) of rectum, rectosigmoid junction and anus * — — — — — 
			 Malignant neoplasm (cancer) of stomach — * — — — — 
			 Malignant neoplasm (cancer) of trachea, bronchus and lung * * * * * — 
			 Malignant neoplasm (cancer) without specification of site * — * — * * 
			 Occlusion of cerebral arteries * * * * * — 
			 Other and ill-defined cerebrovascular disease * * * — * — 
			 Other cerebral (brain) degenerations — — — — — — 
			 Other diseases of respiratory system — — — — — — 
			 Other forms of chronic ischaemic heart disease * * * * * * 
			 Other malignant neoplasm (cancer) of lymphoid and histocytic tissue — — — — — — 
			 Pneumonia, organism unspecified — — — — — — 
			 Senile and presenile organic psychotic conditions * * * — * * 
			 Senility without mention of psychosis — * * * * * 
		
	
	
		
			   Years when this was a main cause of death for females  
			  Cause of death( 4)  1997  1998  1999  2000  ICD-9 codes 
			 Acute but ill-defined cerebrovascular disease (stroke) * * * * 436 
			 Acute myocardial infarction (heart attack) * * * * 410 
			 Acute pulmonary heart disease — — * — 415 
			 Aortic aneurysm (rupture of aortic artery) — — — — 441 
			 Atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries) — — — — 440 
			 Bronchopneumonia, organism unspecified * * * * 485 
			 Chronic airways obstruction, not elsewhere classified * * * * 496 
			 Diabetes mellitus * — — — 250 
			 Heart failure * * — * 428 
			 Ill-defined descriptions and complications of heart disease — — — * 429 
			 Intracerebral haemorrhage — * — — 431 
			 Malignant neoplasm (cancer) of colon * * — * 153 
			 Malignant neoplasm (cancer) of female breast * * * * 174 
			 Malignant neoplasm (cancer) of ovary and other uterine adnexa — * — — 183 
			 Malignant neoplasm (cancer) of rectum, rectosigmoid junction and anus — — — — 154 
			 Malignant neoplasm (cancer) of stomach — — — — 151 
			 Malignant neoplasm (cancer) of trachea, bronchus and lung * * * * 162 
			 Malignant neoplasm (cancer) without specification of site * * * * 199 
			 Occlusion of cerebral arteries * — — — 434 
			 Other and ill-defined cerebrovascular disease * — — * 437 
			 Other cerebral (brain) degenerations * — — — 331 
			 Other diseases of respiratory system — — — * 519 
			 Other forms of chronic ischaemic heart disease * * * * 414 
			 Other malignant neoplasm (cancer) of lymphoid and histocytic tissue — * — — 202 
			 Pneumonia, organism unspecified * * * — 486 
			 Senile and presenile organic psychotic conditions * * * * 290 
			 Senility without mention of psychosis * * * * 797 
			 (1) Causes of death which were recorded as the underlying cause in at least 10 female deaths registered in the year in question. These causes accounted for 65 per cent. of all female deaths in Stroud local authority in 1991-2005. (2) Based on the boundaries of Stroud local authority as of 2005 for all years. (3) Cause of death was defined using the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9) for the years 1991 to 2000, and Tenth Revision (ICD-10) for the years 2001 to 2005. (4) The words in brackets have been added for clarity and are not part of the International Classification of Diseases. 
		
	
	
		
			  Table 4. Main causes of death( 1)  classified according to the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10), females, Stroud local authority( 2) , 2001 to 2005( 3) 
			   Years when this was a main cause of death for females  
			  Cause of death( 4)  2001  2002  2003  2004  2005  ICD-10 code 
			 Acute myocardial infarction (heart attack) * * * * * 121 
			 Alzheimer's disease * * * * * G30 
			 Aortic aneurysm and dissection (rupture of aortic artery) — — — — * 171 
			 Cerebral infarction (stroke) * — * * * 163 
			 Chronic ischaemic heart disease * * * * * 125 
			 Heart failure — — * — * 150 
			 Intracerebral haemorrhage — — * — — 161 
			 Malignant neoplasm (cancer) of breast * * * * * C50 
			 Malignant neoplasm (cancer) of bronchus and lung * * * * * C34 
			 Malignant neoplasm (cancer) of colon * * * — * C18 
			 Malignant neoplasm (cancer) of ovary — * — — * C56 
			 Malignant neoplasm (cancer) of pancreas — — — * — C25 
			 Malignant neoplasm (cancer) without specification of site * * * * * C80 
			 Other cerebrovascular diseases — * * * * I67 
			 Other chronic obstructive pulmonary (lung) disease * * * * * J44 
			 Other respiratory disorders * * * — * J98 
			 Parkinson's disease — * — — — G20 
			 Pneumonia, organism unspecified * * * * * J18 
			 Senility * * * * * R54 
			 Stroke, not specified as haemorrhage or infarction * * * * * I64 
			 Unspecified dementia * * * * * F03 
			 (1) Causes of death which were recorded as the underlying cause in at least 10 female deaths registered in the year in question. These causes accounted for 65 per cent. of all female deaths in Stroud local authority in 1991-2005. (2) Based on the boundaries of Stroud local authority as of 2005 for all years. (3) Cause of death was defined using the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9) for the years 1991 to 2000, and Tenth Revision (ICD-10) for the years 2001 to 2005. (4) The words in brackets have been added for clarity and are not part of the International Classification of Diseases.

Mortality Statistics

Simon Burns: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many excess winter deaths there were in West Chelmsford constituency in each of the last 10 years.

John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician who has been asked to reply.
	 Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 13 December 2006:
	As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent question asking how many excess winter deaths there were in West Chelmsford constituency in each of the last 10 years. (108109)
	Estimates of excess winter deaths relate to a four-month period from December of one year to March of the next year. The table below provides the number of excess winter deaths in West Chelmsford parliamentary constituency for the years 1995/96 to 2004/05 (the latest available).
	
		
			  Table 1: Excess winter deaths( 1,2 ) in West Chelmsford parliamentary constituency( 3) , 1995-96 to 2004-05 
			  Winter  Excess deaths (number) 
			 1995/96 60 
			 1996/97 40 
			 1997/98 20 
			 1998/99 60 
			 1999/2000 120 
			 2000/01 50 
			 2001/02 70 
			 2002/03 50 
			 2003/04 40 
			 2004/05 40 
			 (1) The estimated number of excess winter deaths is the difference between the number of deaths during the four winter months (December to March) and the average number of deaths during the preceding four months (August to November) and the following four months (April to July). Figures are rounded to the nearest 10. (2) Data are based on deaths occurring in each month. (3) Using boundaries as of 2005 for all years shown.

Mortality Statistics

Simon Burns: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the main causes of death were for  (a) males and  (b) women in West Chelmsford constituency in each year since 1996.

John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
	 Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 13 December 2006:
	As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent question asking what the main causes of death were for (a) males and (b) women in West Chelmsford constituency in each year since 1996. (108549)
	The tables below list the main causes of death for (a) males and (b) females in the years 1996 to 2005 (the latest year available) in West Chelmsford parliamentary constituency.
	
		
			  Table 1: main causes of death( 1)  classified according to the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9), males, West Chelmsford constituency( 2) ,1996 to 2000( 3) 
			   Years when this was a main cause of death for males  
			  Cause of death( 4)  1996  1997  1998  1999  2000  ICD-9 code 
			 Acute but ill-defined cerebrovascular disease (stroke) * * * * * 436 
			 Acute myocardial infarction (heart attack) * * * * * 410 
			 Aortic aneurysm (rupture of aortic artery) * * * * * 441 
			 Bronchopneumonia, organism unspecified * * * * * 485 
			 Chronic airways obstruction, not elsewhere classified * * * * * 496 
			 Diabetes mellitus * — — — — 250 
			 Malignant neoplasm (cancer) of colon — — * — — 153 
			 Malignant neoplasm (cancer) of oesophagus — * — — — 150 
			 Malignant neoplasm (cancer) of pancreas — — — — * 157 
			 Malignant neoplasm (cancer) of prostate * * * * * 185 
			 Malignant neoplasm (cancer) of trachea, bronchus and lung * * * * * 162 
			 Malignant neoplasm (cancer) without specification of site — * * — * 199 
			 Other forms of chronic ischaemic heart disease * * * * * 414 
			 (1) Causes of death which were recorded as the underlying cause in at least 10 male deaths registered in the year in question. These causes accounted for 54 per cent. of all male deaths in West Chelmsford constituency in 1996-2005. (2) Based on the boundaries of West Chelmsford constituency as of 2005 for all years. (3) Cause of death was defined using the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9) for the years 1996 to 2000, and Tenth Revision (ICD-10) for the years 2001 to 2005. (4) The words in brackets have been added for clarity and are not part of the International Classification of Diseases. 
		
	
	
		
			  Table 2: main causes of death( 1)  classified according to the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10), males, West Chelmsford constituency( 2) , 2001 to 2005( 3) 
			   Years when this death  was a main cause of death for males  
			  Cause of death( 4)  2001  2002  2003  2004  2005  ICD-10 code 
			 Acute myocardial infarction (heart attack) * * * * * 121 
			 Aortic aneurysm and dissection (rupture of aortic artery) * — — — * 171 
			 Chronic ischaemic heart disease * * * * * I25 
			 Heart failure * * — — * I50 
			 Malignant neoplasm (cancer) of bladder * — — — — C67 
			 Malignant neoplasm (cancer) of bronchus and lung * * * * * C34 
			 Malignant neoplasm (cancer) of colon — — * — — C18 
			 Malignant neoplasm (cancer) of oesophagus — — — — * C15 
			 Malignant neoplasm (cancer) of pancreas — — * — — C25 
			 Malignant neoplasm (cancer) of prostate * * * * * C61 
			 Malignant neoplasm (cancer) without specification of site — — * * — C80 
			 Other chronic obstructive pulmonary (lung) disease * * * * * J44 
			 Pneumonia, organism unspecified * * * * * J18 
			 Stroke, not specified as haemorrhage or infarction * * * * * I64 
			 (1) Causes of death which were recorded as the underlying cause in at least 10 male deaths registered in the year in question. These causes accounted for 54 per cent. of all male deaths in West Chelmsford constituency in 1996-2005. (2) Based on the boundaries of West Chelmsford constituency as of 2005 for all years. (3) Cause of death was defined using the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9) for the years 1996 to 2000, and Tenth Revision (ICD-10) for the years 2001 to 2005. (4) The words in brackets have been added for clarity and are not part of the International Classification of Diseases. 
		
	
	
		
			  Table 3: main causes of death( 1)  classified according to the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9), females, West Chelmsford constituency( 2) ,1996 to 2000( 3) 
			   Years when this was a main cause of death for females  
			  Cause of death( 4)  1996  1997  1998  1999  2000  ICD-9 code 
			 Acute but ill-defined cerebrovascular disease (stroke) * * * * * 436 
			 Acute myocardial infarction (heart attack) * * * * * 410 
			 Bronchopneumonia, organism unspecified * * * * * 485 
			 Chronic airways obstruction, not elsewhere classified — * * * — 496 
			 Heart failure * * * * * 428 
			 Malignant neoplasm (cancer) of colon * — * * — 153 
			 Malignant neoplasm (cancer) of female breast * * * * * 174 
			 Malignant neoplasm (cancer) of ovary and other uterine adnexa * * — — * 183 
			 Malignant neoplasm (cancer) of trachea, bronchus and lung * * * * * 162 
			 Malignant neoplasm (cancer) without specification of site — — — * — 199 
			 Other diseases of respiratory system — — — * — 519 
			 Other forms of chronic ischaemic heart disease * * * * * 414 
			 Senility without mention of psychosis — * * * * 797 
			 (1) Causes of death which were recorded as the underlying cause in at least 10 female deaths registered in the year in question. These causes accounted for 55 per cent. of all female deaths in West Chelmsford constituency in 1996-2005. (2) Based on the boundaries of West Chelmsford constituency as of 2005 for all years. (3) Cause of death was defined using the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9) for the years 1996 to 2000, and Tenth Revision (ICD-10) for the years 2001 to 2005. (4) The words in brackets have been added for clarity and are not part of the International Classification of Diseases. 
		
	
	
		
			  Table 4: main causes of death( 1)  classified according to the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10), females, West Chelmsford constituency( 2) , 2001 to 2005( 3) 
			   Years when this was a main cause of death for females  
			  Cause of death( 4)  2001  2002  2003  2004  2005  ICD-10 code 
			 Acute myocardial infarction (heart attack) * * * * * 121 
			 Chronic ischaemic heart disease * * * * * 125 
			 Heart failure * * * * * 150 
			 Malignant neoplasm (cancer) of breast * * * * * C50 
			 Malignant neoplasm (cancer) of bronchus and lung * * * * * C34 
			 Malignant neoplasm (cancer) of colon — — * — — C18 
			 Malignant neoplasm (cancer) of ovary * — — * — C56 
			 Malignant neoplasm (cancer) without specification of site * * — * — C80 
			 Other chronic obstructive pulmonary disease * * * * — J44 
			 Other respiratory disorders — — — — * J98 
			 Pneumonia, organism unspecified * * * * * J18 
			 Senility * * * * * R54 
			 Stroke, not specified as haemorrhage or infarction * * * * * I64 
			 Unspecified dementia — — — * — F03 
			 (1) Causes of death which were recorded as the underlying cause in at least 10 female deaths registered in the year in question. These causes accounted for 55 per cent. of all female deaths in West Chelmsford constituency in 1996-2005. (2) Based on the boundaries of West Chelmsford constituency as of 2005 for all years. (3) Cause of death was defined using the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9) for the years 1996 to 2000, and Tenth Revision (ICD-10) for the years 2001 to 2005. (4) The words in brackets have been added for clarity and are not part of the International Classification of Diseases.

Mortality Statistics

Simon Burns: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the  (a) diagnosis and  (b) mortality rate was for (i) chronic lung disease, (ii) coronary heart disease and (iii) cancer in West Chelmsford constituency in each year since 1996.

John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician who has been asked to reply.
	 Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 13 December 2006:
	As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent question asking what the (a) diagnosis and (b) mortality rate was for (i) chronic lung disease, (ii) coronary heart disease and (iii) cancer in West Chelmsford constituency in each year since 1996. (108550)
	Figures on the incidence of chronic lung disease and coronary heart disease are not readily available. Mortality and incidence rates for parliamentary constituencies which do not share boundaries exactly with a local authority can be calculated only from 2001 onwards. The tables below provide (a) the age-standardised cancer incidence rate, and (b) the age-standardised mortality rates for (i) chronic lung disease, (ii) coronary heart disease and (iii) cancer in West Chelmsford parliamentary constituency for the years 2001 to 2004 (the latest available).
	The ward population estimates on which these rates are based are experimental statistics—that is, statistics which are in a testing or consultation phase and are not fully developed—and the figures should therefore be treated with caution.
	
		
			  Table 1: Age-standardised cancer incidence rates( 1,2) , West Chelmsford parliamentary constituency( 3) , 2001-04( 4,5) 
			   Cases per 100,000 
			 2001 317 
			 2002 288 
			 2003 264 
			 2004 273 
			 (1 )Age-standardised cancer registration rates per 100,000 population, standardised to the European Standard Population. Age-standardised rates are used to allow comparison between populations which may contain different proportions of people of different ages. (2) International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) codes C00-C97 excluding code C44: non-melanoma skin cancer. (3) Excluding South Hanningfield, Stock and Margaretting ward. (4) Using local authority ward boundaries as of 2005 for cancer registrations for all years shown. (5) The ward population estimates used to calculate the ward incidence rates are experimental statistics, and are consistent with the published local authority mid-year estimates for the relevant year. 
		
	
	
		
			  Table 2: Age-standardised mortality rates for chronic lung disease, coronary heart disease and cancer( 1,2) , West Chelmsford parliamentary constituency( 3) , 2001-04( 4,5) 
			  Deaths per 100,000 
			   Chronic lung disease  Coronary heart disease  Cancer 
			 2001 29 129 173 
			 2002 25 100 156 
			 2003 17 106 161 
			 2004 26 88 189 
			 (1) Age-standardised mortality rates per 100,000 population, standardised to the European Standard Population. Age-standardised rates are used to allow comparison between populations which may contain different proportions of people of different ages. (2) Cause of death was defined using the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) codes J40-J47 for chronic lung disease, I20-I25 for coronary heart disease, and C00-C97 for cancer. (3 )Excluding South Hanningfield, Stock and Margaretting ward. (4) Using local authority ward boundaries as of 2005 for deaths for all years shown. (5) The ward population estimates used to calculate the ward incidence rates are experimental statistics, and are consistent with the published local authority mid-year estimates for the relevant year.

Mortality Statistics

Brian Jenkins: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many excess winter deaths there were in Tamworth constituency in each of the last ten years.

John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician who has been asked to reply.
	 Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 13 December 2006:
	As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent question asking how many excess winter deaths there were in Tamworth constituency in each of the last 10 years.
	(105736)
	Estimates of excess winter deaths relate to a four-month period from December of one year to March of the next year. The table below provides the number of excess winter deaths in Tamworth parliamentary constituency for the years 1995/96 to 2004/05 (the latest available).
	
		
			  Table 1: Excess winter deaths( 1, 2)  in Tamworth parliamentary constituency( 3) ,1995-96 to 2004-05 
			  Winter  Number of excess deaths 
			 1995-96 50 
			 1996-97 40 
			 1997-98 20 
			 1998-99 50 
			 1999-2000 80 
			 2000-01 60 
			 2001-02 30 
			 2002-03 — 
			 2003-04 20 
			 2004-05 50 
			 (1 )The estimated number of excess winter deaths is the difference between the number of deaths during the four winter months (December to March) and the average number of deaths during the preceding four months (August to November) and the following four months (April to July). Figures are rounded to the nearest 10. (2 )Data are based on deaths occurring in each month. (3 )Using boundaries as of 2005 for all years shown.

National Savings and Investment

John Hayes: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the total cost was to the public purse of running the National Savings and Investment Department in the last complete financial year  (a) before and  (b) after the public private partnership.

Edward Balls: The total cost to the public purse of running National Savings and Investments, as measured by the Department's net operating costs, in the last complete financial year before the public private partnership (1998-99) was £180,337,000. The cost in the last complete financial year (2005-06) was £175,203,000.

Per Capita Public Expenditure

Alan Milburn: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer what his most recent estimate is of the average per capita public expenditure on each income decile group.

John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician who has been asked to reply.
	 Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 13 December 2006
	As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent question asking what his most recent estimate is of the average per capita government expenditure on each income decile group. (105731)
	Estimates of cash benefits and benefits in kind received by households are provided in the ONS analysis "The effects of taxes and benefits on household income". The latest analysis for 2004/05 was published on the National Statistics website on 12th May 2006 at http://www.statistics.gov.uk/taxesbenefits. The analysis is based on data from the Expenditure and Food Survey, which is a sample survey covering approximately 7,000 households in the UK. Through measuring household receipts of benefits, this analysis shows how government expenditure on cash benefits and benefits in kind are allocated to different types of households, and in particular households in different income decile groups.
	The results in the article are presented for households rather than on a per capita basis. However, the table below shows average per capita receipts of cash benefits and benefits in kind within each household decile group. They show that the average ranges from £5,309 per person, per year in the bottom income decile, to £2,171 in the top decile. A more detailed breakdown by different types of benefit appears in the article (although presented as household averages, rather than per capita).
	Cash benefits include things like Income Support, Child Benefit, Incapacity Benefit, and the state Retirement Pension. The estimates of benefits in kind reflect the value of education and health services provided by the state to households, and also include housing and travel subsidies. Together these items constitute approximately 55 per cent of total government expenditure. They are the parts of government expenditure which can be directly allocated to households. Other types of expenditure such as on defence cannot be allocated except on the assumption that all households benefit equally.
	
		
			  Average per capita receipts of benefits by income decile groups of all households, 2004-05 
			  £ per year 
			  Decile groups( 1)  Total cash benefits  Total benefits in kind  Total benefits 
			 Bottom 2,402 2,907 5,309 
			 Second 3,063 2,631 5,694 
			 Third 2,908 2,710 5,618 
			 Fourth 2,558 2,378 4,936 
			 Fifth 1,980 2,219 4,199 
			 Sixth 1,832 2,113 3,945 
			 Seventh 1,347 1,870 3,217 
			 Eighth 928 1,746 2,675 
			 Ninth 606 1,623 2,230 
			 Top 570 1,601 2,171 
			 All households 1,808 2,171 3,979 
			 (1) All households ranked by equivalised disposable income

Population Statistics

Karen Buck: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer which 50  (a) local authority areas and  (b) parliamentary constituencies had the highest annual change in population numbers in each of the last five years; and what the percentage change was in each case.

John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibilities of the National Statistician who has been asked to reply.
	 Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 13 December 2006:
	As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your question concerning which 50 (a) local authorities and (b) parliamentary constituencies had the highest annual change in population numbers in each of the last five years; and what the percentage change was in each case. (108015)
	The attached tables provide the requested data for local authorities in the UK for the year to mid-2001 through to the year to mid-2005.
	Mid-year population estimates for all parliamentary constituencies are only available from the Census. For this reason, it is not possible to provide data on annual change for these areas.
	
		
			  50 local authorities in the UK with the highest estimated population change in the years to mid-2001 and mid-2002 
			  Local authority  Percentage change 
			  Mid-2000 to mid-2001  
			 City of London 4.9 
			 Kensington and Chelsea 4.9 
			 Westminster 3.5 
			 Camden 3.3 
			 Hammersmith and Fulham 3.0 
			 Daventry 2.6 
			 Taunton Deane 2.4 
			 Armagh 2.4 
			 Ballymoney 2.4 
			 North Kesteven 2.3 
			 Banbridge 2.3 
			 West Wiltshire 2.2 
			 Tower Hamlets 2.0 
			 Harborough 2.0 
			 East Northamptonshire 1.9 
			 Isles of Scilly 1.9 
			 Hackney 1.9 
			 Torridge 1.9 
			 Cookstown 1.8 
			 Brent 1.8 
			 Telford And Wrekin UA 1.7 
			 Limavady 1.7 
			 Warwick 1.7 
			 Newry and Mourne 1.7 
			 Rushmoor 1.7 
			 Ashford 1.6 
			 Newham 1.6 
			 Kennet 1.6 
			 Richmondshire 1.6 
			 Southwark 1.6 
			 Merton 1.5 
			 Maldon 1.5 
			 Wandsworth 1.5 
			 Oswestry 1.5 
			 South Holland 1.5 
			 South Northamptonshire 1.4 
			 Greenwich 1.4 
			 South Cambridgeshire 1.4 
			 Rugby 1.4 
			 Milton Keynes UA 1.4 
			 Bedford 1.3 
			 North Cornwall 1.3 
			 Rutland UA 1.3 
			 South Derbyshire 1.3 
			 Carrick 1.3 
			 Broxbourne 1.3 
			 West Lothian 1.3 
			 Thurrock UA 1.3 
			 West Lindsey 1.2 
			 Lambeth 1.2 
			   
			  Mid-2001 to mid-2002  
			 Westminster 5.4 
			 City of London 4.6 
			 Richmondshire 3.9 
			 Kensington and Chelsea 3.8 
			 North Kesteven 2.9 
			 Warwick 2.8 
			 Oxford 2.5 
			 South Northamptonshire 2.5 
			 Camden 2.2 
			 Daventry 2.1 
			 South Derbyshire 2.1 
			 West Lindsey 2.0 
			 Hammersmith and Fulham 2.0 
			 Banbridge 1.9 
			 Harborough 1.9 
			 Restormel 1.9 
			 North Shropshire 1.8 
			 Cambridge 1.8 
			 Stratford-on-Avon 1.8 
			 Moyle 1.8 
			 Limavady 1.7 
			 Ballymoney 1.7 
			 Tower Hamlets 1.7 
			 East Northamptonshire 1.7 
			 Omagh 1.7 
			 Greenwich 1.7 
			 North Cornwall 1.7 
			 South Holland 1.7 
			 Ribble Valley 1.6 
			 East Lindsey 1.6 
			 West Wiltshire 1.6 
			 East Cambridgeshire 1.5 
			 Canterbury 1.5 
			 Ashford 1.4 
			 Rugby 1.4 
			 Ceredigion UA 1.4 
			 Isles Of Scilly 1.4 
			 Elmbridge 1.4 
			 Haringey 1.4 
			 Rutland UA 1.4 
			 Torridge 1.4 
			 Forest Heath 1.4 
			 Boston 1.3 
			 Manchester 1.3 
			 Kerrier 1.3 
			 Newry and Mourne 1.3 
			 Magherafelt 1.3 
			 Bromsgrove 1.3 
			 Richmond Upon Thames 1.3 
			 Taunton Deane 1.2 
			  Source:  Office for National Statistics 
		
	
	
		
			  50 local authorities in the UK with the highest estimated population change in the years to mid-2003 and mid-2004 
			  Local authority  Percentage change 
			  Mid-2002 to mid-2003  
			 East Cambridgeshire 4.6 
			 City of London 4.5 
			 Forest Heath 3.8 
			 Kensington and Chelsea 3.6 
			 Westminster 3.6 
			 Cambridge 2.6 
			 Oxford 2.5 
			 Warwick 2.4 
			 South Derbyshire 2.3 
			 Richmondshire 2.1 
			 North Dorset 2.1 
			 East Northamptonshire 2.0 
			 North Kesteven 2.0 
			 West Lindsey 1.9 
			 Pembrokeshire UA 1.9 
			 South Holland 1.8 
			 Mid Bedfordshire 1.8 
			 Camden 1.8 
			 Banbridge 1.7 
			 South Cambridgeshire 1.7 
			 Ribble Valley 1.7 
			 Daventry 1.7 
			 Rutland UA 1.6 
			 Fenland 1.6 
			 Torridge 1.6 
			 Restormel 1.5 
			 Canterbury 1.5 
			 Richmond upon Thames 1.5 
			 Eden 1.5 
			 Stratford-on-Avon 1.5 
			 Newark and Sherwood 1.5 
			 West Dorset 1.4 
			 Breckland 1.4 
			 South Northamptonshire 1.4 
			 Hart 1.4 
			 Winchester 1.4 
			 Ashford 1.3 
			 Omagh 1.3 
			 Cotswold 1.3 
			 Kettering 1.3 
			 West Wiltshire 1.3 
			 Isle Of Wight UA 1.3 
			 Colchester 1.2 
			 Newry and Mourne 1.2 
			 Exeter 1.2 
			 Kerrier 1.2 
			 South Shropshire 1.2 
			 East Lindsey 1.2 
			 Oswestry 1.2 
			 Ballymoney 1.2 
			   
			  Mid-2003 to mid-2004  
			 City of London 7.0 
			 Kensington and Chelsea 5.6 
			 Westminster 3.6 
			 Cambridge 3.2 
			 Camden 3.0 
			 Warwick 2.7 
			 Rutland UA 2.5 
			 Down 2.4 
			 Richmond upon Thames 2.0 
			 Oxford 1.9 
			 Eden 1.8 
			 Forest Heath 1.8 
			 South Northamptonshire 1.8 
			 Torridge 1.8 
			 Mid Devon 1.7 
			 Ashford 1.7 
			 Copeland 1.7 
			 Mid Bedfordshire 1.7 
			 Carlisle 1.7 
			 Huntingdonshire 1.6 
			 Exeter 1.6 
			 East Devon 1.6 
			 Ballymoney 1.6 
			 Durham 1.6 
			 Banbridge 1.6 
			 South Holland 1.6 
			 Isle Of Wight UA 1.6 
			 North Kesteven 1.5 
			 Aberdeenshire 1.5 
			 West Lindsey 1.5 
			 Canterbury 1.5 
			 Hammersmith and Fulham 1.5 
			 Richmondshire 1.4 
			 South Shropshire 1.4 
			 Kennet 1.4 
			 Newark and Sherwood 1.4 
			 East Lindsey 1.4 
			 West Devon 1.4 
			 Fenland 1.3 
			 Ribble Valley 1.3 
			 Charnwood 1.3 
			 West Wiltshire 1.3 
			 Stratford-on-Avon 1.3 
			 Tower Hamlets 1.3 
			 Mid Suffolk 1.3 
			 Limavady 1.3 
			 South Derbyshire 1.3 
			 Boston 1.3 
			 St. Edmundsbury 1.3 
			 Winchester 1.3 
			 Source:  Office for National Statistics 
		
	
	
		
			  50 local authorities in the UK with the highest estimated population change in the year to mid-2005 
			  Local authority  Percentage change 
			  Mid-2004 to mid-2005  
			 City of London 6.7 
			 Kensington and Chelsea 6.6 
			 Westminster 6.2 
			 Forest Heath 5.0 
			 Cambridge 4.7 
			 Camden 4.2 
			 Oxford 3.2 
			 Warwick 2.9 
			 Dungannon 2.9 
			 Newcastle upon Tyne 2.6 
			 Banbridge 2.3 
			 South Northamptonshire 2.3 
			 Rutland UA 2.2 
			 Elmbridge 2.2 
			 East Cambridgeshire 2.2 
			 Ashford 2.1 
			 Norwich 2.1 
			 Exeter 2.1 
			 Welwyn Hatfield 2.0 
			 Richmond upon Thames 1.9 
			 Stratford-on-Avon 1.9 
			 Mid Bedfordshire 1.9 
			 Tower Hamlets 1.8 
			 Craigavon 1.8 
			 Wandsworth 1.8 
			 Hammersmith and Fulham 1.7 
			 Redbridge 1.7 
			 Charnwood 1.7 
			 Ballymoney 1.7 
			 Durham 1.7 
			 Colchester 1.6 
			 Armagh 1.6 
			 Carlisle 1.6 
			 South Cambridgeshire 1.6 
			 Rugby 1.6 
			 Eden 1.5 
			 Islington 1.5 
			 Canterbury 1.5 
			 Hillingdon 1.5 
			 Oswestry 1.5 
			 Mid Suffolk 1.5 
			 Newry and Mourne 1.4 
			 Runnymede 1.4 
			 Antrim 1.4 
			 Tonbridge and Malling 1.4 
			 South Derbyshire 1.4 
			 Breckland 1.4 
			 Windsor and Maidenhead UA 1.3 
			 South Bucks 1.3 
			 Hart 1.3 
			  Source:  Office for National Statistics

Population Statistics

Simon Burns: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many  (a) deaths and  (b) births there were in West Chelmsford constituency in each year since 1996.

John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician who has been asked to reply.
	 Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 13 December 2006:
	As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent question asking how many  (a) deaths and  (b) births there were in West Chelmsford constituency in each year since 1996. (108551)
	The table below provides the number of  (a) deaths and  (b) births in West Chelmsford parliamentary constituency for the years 1996 to 2005 (the latest available).
	
		
			  Table 1: Deaths( 1)  and births( 2)  in West Chelmsford parliamentary constituency( 3) , 1996 to 2005 
			  Number 
			   Deaths  Births 
			 1996 770 1,223 
			 1997 815 1,193 
			 1998 859 1,118 
			 1999 842 1,152 
			 2000 872 1,087 
			 2001 853 1,077 
			 2002 801 1,149 
			 2003 819 1,224 
			 2004 836 1,248 
			 2005 782 1,335 
			 (1 )Deaths registered in each year. (2 )Births occurring in each year. (3 )Using boundaries as of 2005 for all years shown.

Pre-Budget Report

Mark Harper: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he intends to seek parliamentary approval for the £600 million increase to the defence budget announced in his pre-Budget report 2006 speech.

Stephen Timms: The MOD sought parliamentary approval for the forecast cost of operations for 2006-07 in its Winter Supplementary Estimate.

Pre-Budget Report

Mark Harper: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to his statement on the pre-Budget report 2006, whether the £600 million additional expenditure to fund operations in Afghanistan and Iraq is additional to the expenditure increase in the Winter Supplementary Estimates.

Stephen Timms: The £600 million is included in the increase for operational expenditure in the MOD's Winter Supplementary Estimate.

Productivity Levels

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent assessment he has made of the effects of the level of unemployment on productivity; and if he will make a statement.

John Healey: The Government's estimate of trend productivity growth is based on trends in the employment rate rather than the unemployment rate, because it is workers employed in the labour force that determine productivity growth. When adjusting trend productivity growth for changes in the employment rate an assumption is made regarding the productivity of new workers relative to the average worker.
	In the light of new evidence published since Budget 2006, the Treasury has reviewed its trends output projections. Analysis of the new evidence, set out in 'Trend Growth: new evidence and prospects', was published alongside the pre-Budget report on the6 December 2006.

Public Sector Employees

John Hayes: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what proportion of the population in each region are employed in the public sector; and what the proportion was in 1997.

John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician who has been asked to reply.
	 Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 13 December 2006:
	As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking what proportion of the population in each region are in public sector employment; and what the proportion was in 1997. (108090)
	The latest available estimates, which are based on annual averages of quarterly public sector employment estimates and the appropriate mid-year population estimates, are shown in the attached table. Figures by region are not available earlier than 1999.
	The regional estimates of public sector employment are based on returns from public sector organisations, combined with approximate breakdowns from the Labour Force Survey for Wales and the English regions. As these figures are partly based on sample surveys, they are subject to a margin of uncertainty.
	
		
			  Public sector employment as a percentage of resident population by region, 1999 and 2005 
			  Government office region  1999  2005 
			 North East 9.3 10.2 
			 North West 8.8 10.0 
			 Yorkshire and the Humber 8.9 9.7 
			 East Midlands 7.7 8.4 
			 West Midlands 8.2 9.2 
			 East 7.7 8.5 
			 London 9.9 10.0 
			 South East 7.9 8.6 
			 South West 8.7 10.3 
			 Wales 9.9 10.3 
			 Scotland 10.4 11.4 
			 Northern Ireland 11.7 12.7 
			 United Kingdom 8.9 9.7 
			  Sources: Labour Force Survey, returns from public sector organisations (ONS, Scottish Executive and Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment for Northern Ireland)

Retirement Age

Mike Hancock: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer from the Parliamentary Secretary in the Cabinet Office to the hon. Member for Blackpool, South (Mr. Marsden) of 4 December 2006,  Official Report, columns 189-90W, on the retirement age, what his Department's policy is for the setting of retirement ages for staff below the senior civil service under the Civil Service (Management Functions) Act 1992.

John Healey: Treasury's retirement age for staff below the senior civil service is 65, in line with the National Default.

Saving Gateway Scheme

Jon Cruddas: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what plans he has to extend the Saving Gateway scheme.

Edward Balls: The Saving Gateway aims to encourages saving among lower-income households and promote engagement with mainstream financial services.
	The second Saving Gateway pilot is currently underway and a final evaluation report is due to be published in spring 2007. An announcement on the next steps for the scheme will be made in summer 2007.

Supporting People Strategy

Jon Cruddas: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will ensure that financial capability sessions and advice are offered in  (a) Sure Start children's centres and  (b) as part of the Supporting People Strategy.

Edward Balls: The revised Sure Start children's centres practice guidance, published on 30 November 2006, highlights the importance of financial capability in enabling people to participate in society and to manage their finances effectively. It advises that children's centres should consider providing financial education to parents as part of their support services.
	In developing the Supporting People strategy an extensive consultation was conducted with their stakeholder community. The issue of financial capability was not explicitly raised, but the Department for Communities and Local Government are content to consider how it might be reflected in the strategy.
	The Government will shortly publish its long-term strategy on financial capability.

Tax Credits

Anne Main: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many families in St. Albans constituency are in receipt of  (a) working tax credit and  (b) child tax credit, broken down by ward.

Stephen Timms: I refer the hon. Lady to the answer given to my hon. Friend the Member for Leicester South(Sir Peter Soulsby) on 29 November 2006,  Official Report, column 735W.

Uniform Business Rate

Vincent Cable: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the  (a) total and  (b) average uniform business rate being paid by businesses employing fewer than (i) 10, (ii) 50, (iii) 250, (iv) 1,000 and (v) 5,000 people; and if he will make a statement.

Dawn Primarolo: The information requested is not available.

VAT Registration Numbers

Geoffrey Clifton-Brown: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the average time taken was for processing an application from a business for the issuing of a VAT registration number in  (a) the last year for which figures are available and  (b) 1997.

Edward Balls: The average time taken to process an application for VAT registration for the period from 1 April to 31 October 2006 was 30 days. No figures are available for either the last financial year or for 1997.

Welsh Language Services

Hywel Williams: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what discussions his Department has had with the Welsh Language Board on the provision of telephone services in Welsh by his Department.

John Healey: holding answer 12 December 2006
	Officials are in discussion with the Welsh Language Board about a proposal for a Welsh Language Scheme. The Treasury has not, however, had any discussions with the Welsh Language Board on the provision of telephone services in Welsh.